Seven Devils
by foreverXabby
Summary: Lydia Mikaelson was turned into a vampire by her mother like the rest of her siblings. In 1492, after Katerina fled with the moonstone, she was daggered by Klaus. 519 years later, she is awakened by the Salvatores who hope she'll help them kill her brother. Seeking revenge on Klaus for what he's done, she agrees. But in the middle of seeking revenge, Lydia finds love too. Damon/OC
1. prologue

**Prologue**

_England, 1492_

_Lydia pushed her dark brown hair out of her eyes as servants packed up her bags for her. She was leaving England, leaving her brothers. If she had realized how dangerous a task that was, things might have ended up differently for her._

_Lydia couldn't help but feel a little guilty, for she was breaking a promise by leaving. And Lydia never broke promises. One thing she praised herself on was her loyalty, how she never, ever broke a promise. Lydia's word meant something. Or, at least, it used to._

_She had promised her little brother, Niklaus, several things. She promised she'd help him break the curse their mother placed on him, she promised her loyalty, but, above all, she promised always and forever. Along with Rebekah and Elijah, she promised Klaus always and forever._

_And now she was turning her back on all of those promises._

_Leaving was definitely not the most honorable thing she had ever done. But she was finally seeing Niklaus in a new light. She no longer trusted him. She had to leave before she ended up like Finn. Kol, ironically, had been the smartest out of all of them. As soon as Finn was deposited in his coffin and hidden only God knows where, he was gone. Elijah, Rebekah, and Lydia had stayed, though. But now, almost four hundred years later, Lydia was leaving too. _

_The Niklaus she called a brother now was not the same Klaus she grew up with, took care of. He wasn't her baby brother, not anymore. She realized that the second he threatened to kill Elijah if Katerina wasn't found- Katerina, the doppelganger of Tatia. Katerina, who Elijah had foolishly fallen for. Katerina, who had been "courted" by Niklaus, when, really, he meant to sacrifice her and break his curse. Katerina, who had escaped with the help of Trevor. _

_So now Lydia was leaving. She had urged Elijah to leave with her, but he stubbornly insisted to stay, that Niklaus was still their brother, that they gave him their word. Lydia was almost tempted to stay as well, but her sense of self-preservation won out and now she was quickly packing her things, hoping to leave before Niklaus realized what she was doing._

"_Thank you for your services," she told the servants, indicating their dismissal. They bowed their heads before leaving the room. Lydia sighed and started towards a book shelf, debating internally what books she should bring with her. She didn't even know where she would go. Check on Kol, maybe?_

"_What are you doing, Lydia?"_

_Lydia stiffened at his voice. She had to act normally, though. "Has Katerina been found yet?" she asked, completely ignoring his question._

_Lydia turned around to look at her brother. He looked eerily calm. Scarily calm. The kind of calm that people were when they were about to snap. Lydia knew Niklaus almost better than anybody else. She knew that when he snapped, people lost their lives. _

_Klaus gritted his teeth, the muscles in his jaw tightening noticeably. "No, she has not. But, no matter. I will find a way to make the doppelganger pay. Not only did she run away, but she took the moonstone with her. She will regret her decision," he told her._

_Lydia knew that somebody the doppelganger cared about was going to die, her family most likely. She looked back towards the bags on her bed, and Klaus followed her gaze. "What are you doing, Lydia?" he repeated, this time with a sharp edge in his voice. He knew exactly what she was doing. _

_Lydia took a deep, unnecessary breath. "I am leaving, brother." _

_Those four words put a noticeable change in Klaus. His eyes darkened, barely concealed rage hidden in the contours of his face. He stalked slowly towards his elder sister. Lydia stood her ground, though. She didn't cower in fear. She didn't stutter out an apology. She was unafraid of her little brother. And that made him only angrier._

"_Are you now? And where do you plan to go, sister?" it was a sarcastic comment, slightly patronizing. Lydia held her head high and answered it seriously, though. _

"_I am not sure. Rebekah is in France right now, is she not? With Kol, I believe. I bet those two are at each other's throats as we speak. I better go make sure that everything is alright-"_

_She gasped suddenly when Klaus slammed her against a wall, hand on her throat. His eyes were full of rage. That was a downside to her little brother being half-werewolf. He suffered from werewolf rage at times. It was what made him so dangerous, his rage. It made him impulsive._

_Lydia calmly placed a hand over Klaus', the one that was clenched around her throat. "Unhand me, brother, if you know what's good for you," she said calmly, though her voice was serious, her brown eyes darkening with anger. _

"_You promised, Lydia. Did you forget about your promise or are you no longer a woman of your word?" Klaus asked, his grip loosening slightly._

"_I did not forget, Niklaus. But there is nothing more I can do. The doppelganger has fled, the moonstone is missing. I'm afraid that your curse might never-" her words cut off into a choked gasp, as Klaus tightened his gasp._

_Quickly, with the strength and speed only an original could possess, Lydia slipped from Klaus' grip and slammed him against the wall by his throat. Her eyes darkened, though her truly demonic face- the face of a vampire- didn't appear. She didn't need red eyes and fangs to be menacing, to be terrifying._

"_Don't you _ever _do that again," she said slowly, meaningfully. "I am not one of your lackeys, Niklaus. I am your sister and an original vampire and I will be treated as such."_

_Lydia let go of Klaus and turned her back on him. Slowly, she began to walk towards her bed again. "I am sorry, brother," she said quietly, shamefully almost. "Really, I am."_

"_As am I, sister."_

_Lydia's eyebrows furrowed and she turned around to ask Klaus why he was sorry, when he gripped her suddenly with one hand and, using the other, shoved a dagger with the ash of the white oak tree into her heart._

_Gasping, Lydia's brown eyes went wide. She stared accusingly up at her brother, her killer. He stared back down at her, blue never leaving brown. She saw something flicker in them- was it regret? She hoped it was. She hoped her baby brother regretted killing her._

_She felt her body shut down. She felt herself grow weak until she couldn't stand anymore. Klaus supported her in his arms as her skin grew gray and the veins protruded out. When he laid her gently down on her bed, Lydia Mikaelson was already dead- or good as. _

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **New story I've had in my head. I really wanted to write an original sister story so badly. This story kind of follows season 3, but not really. I will incorporate some things from that season into here, but some things will change. Like always, I'm not following the show, I'm following the story in my mind.

I think I mentioned it in the prologue, but Lydia is the third oldest- at least in the story, the oldest is Elijah, then Finn, Lydia, Klaus, Kol, Rebekah, and then poor little Henrik. Just in case you're curious.

Drop a review, please!

~Abby :)


	2. undaggered

**Chapter one**

_Undaggered_

Damon sat alone in the living room of the boarding house, his only company the glass of bourbon in his hand. He heaved a sigh as he thought of everything going on at that moment, none of them good. Stefan was stuck between ripping out throats and going cold turkey, Elena was hell bent on saving him, and Klaus was running around using Elena's blood to make hybrids and ruining lives. Stefan's only obsession at that moment seemed to be killing Klaus, though that was Damon's obsession too. That, and keeping Elena alive. Both obsessions depended on each other, and both seemed impossible.

He missed the days were everything was simpler, less dramatic. He missed the days when he could be the bad guy guilt-free.

"Damon, there you are."

He looked up from his drink to see a very familiar girl crossing her arms over her chest and tapping her foot impatiently. _Elena, _was his first thought. Then he noticed the curls and the bitchy expression. No, it was the other Petrova doppelganger. Katherine.

He sighed and looked away from her. "What do you want, Katherine?" he asked exasperatedly. She was yet another person who wanted Klaus dead, but Damon didn't trust the selfish, manipulative bitch for a second. She was too obsessed with self-preservation and more than likely to throw him to wolves if it suited her.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," she complained, walking closer to him.

"Well, you found me. Now get out," he replied rudely. He wasn't in a mood to deal with Katherine.

The doppelganger frowned. "You're in an awful mood. What's wrong? Are you tired? Your infatuation with Elena does get exhausting, doesn't it? For me, it does."

He ignored the dig. "Get out, Katherine, or I'll make you," he said slowly, turning around top face her.

Katherine just rolled her eyes. "Fine. Then I guess I'll just have to find somebody else to share my plan with," she said, slowly turning around and walking towards the door.

Damon sighed but took the bait. "What's your plan, Katherine?"

"Oh, so _now _you want me to stay? Just to hear my plan to kill Klaus? I think you're just using me, Damon." Katherine smirked slightly and widened her big brown eyes innocently.

Damon glared at her. "Using you? Using _you? _Coming from the biggest manipulative bitch in town-"

"Relax, Damon." Katherine rolled her eyes. "I was just kidding. Learn how to take a joke."

Damon glared at her and gritted his teeth. He wanted Katherine out of his house, but he was also curious to learn what her plan was. He was short on those, lately. And the sooner they got rid of Klaus the Evil Hybrid, the better. Elena's life was at stake.

"You have five seconds to tell me about this mysterious plan to kill Klaus, Katherine, before I drag you out by your hair," he muttered, blue eyes hard and full of anger.

She sighed. Damon was no fun when he was in one of his moods. "I'd rather show you," she replied rather coolly, before turning around and walking briskly out of the room. Damon frowned as he watched her walk away.

He debated internally for three seconds before sighing, tossing back the rest of his drink, and standing up. He followed Katherine out of the living room and out of the boarding house. She was waiting for him out in the night, hands on her hips.

"Come on, we don't have much time," she said impatiently, walking to her car. Damon sighed again, but followed her.

What was he getting himself into?

He obediently got into Katherine's car, though, and she drove them to an abandoned house on the edge of town. His eyebrows were raised as Katherine got out of the car, and he followed her out.

"What's going on?" he asked her. "What's your plan, Katherine?"

"I'll explain everything in time, Damon. Just hurry up. We don't have a lot of time. As we speak, Klaus could be discovering what happened…" she trailed off, but looked nervous. Katherine didn't do nervous. She obviously did something risky, something dangerous, something out of character for Katherine.

What did she do?

Damon followed Katherine into the abandoned house. It was full of dust and spider webs and moldy cardboard boxes. It was completely dark too, meaning that the electricity didn't work. Damon absently noted that it had probably been abandoned for three or four decades at the most.

Katherine led him down a flight of stairs. He was careful not to trip in the dark, for he couldn't see a thing. "Katherine-" he started to say, using the metal railing as a guide to walk down the stairs.

"Shh!"

Damon was starting to get pissed off. What wasn't Katherine telling him? What did she do? Why were they on a time limit? Why was, according to Katherine, Klaus due to start hunting them down any minute now?

"Katherine, tell me what you did right now, or I'm leaving you to rot down here with the rats," he growled, stopping on the stairs.

Katherine sighed and turned around to face him. He could just make out her curls in the dark. "No need to be dramatic, Damon. I promise I'll answer all your questions eventually," she tried to sooth him.

"Answer them now," he replied stubbornly. He was thinking longingly about how relaxed he had been half an hour ago, just sitting by the fire with his bourbon. Then Katherine decided to bug him. He had half a mind just to leave her right on the stairs, not giving a damn about what she did to piss off Klaus.

She sighed again. "Fine," she said, then she paused. "What do you know about the originals?" she asked, cocking her head slightly to the side.

Damon raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"There are seven original vampires, do you know who they are?" She asked him impatiently. They didn't have time for this, but she couldn't afford Damon walking out on her now.

"Klaus- of course, and Elijah…" Damon trailed off, not knowing the five others. All he knew was that they were in coffins, carried around by Klaus. It was a little creepy, carting your family around in boxes. But since it was Klaus who was doing it, Damon wasn't really surprised.

"Rebekah, she was daggered in the 20's. I'm sure Stefan can tell you more about her," she added bitterly. Damon felt a dull ache in his chest. Katherine was just another person who preferred Stefan over him. "Kol, daggered in the early 1900's," she continued. "Finn, 12th century, Mikael, their father, still alive and hunting Klaus, last time I heard. I've tried to track him down and point him in the right direction, but he's hard to find. And then the last original and my personal favorite, Lydia."

Damon raised his eyebrows, not knowing why Katherine was giving him a history lesson on the original family. "Lydia?"

"She was daggered the same year I was turned. I knew her when I was still human. She didn't like me that much." Katherine shrugged.

Damon smirked slightly. "Then I'm sure we would get along great, if she was still alive," he said dryly.

She rolled her eyes again. "Come on," she said, walking down the stairs. Damon 's eyebrows furrowed and he followed her.

"What do the original vampires have to do with anything?" Damon asked as he stumbled down the stairs. Katherine just ignored him and walked into a room.

He groaned and walked into the room as well. "Katherine, what's going-" he cut himself off as his eyes widened.

In the middle of the room, surrounded by candles, was a coffin. It was closed, but he had an idea what was in it. Damon narrowed his eyes and turned to Katherine.

"_What did you do?" _he growled.

She frowned at him. "I came up with a plan, Damon. A plan to kill Klaus. That's more than what you've done," she replied bitterly.

"A plan that involves an original? I think you've forgotten that they're all related to Klaus," he snapped. He never thought Katherine to be so stupid.

"And I think you've forgotten that he _killed _them all," Katherine retorted. "They're not going to be happy with them, if and when they wake up. And you and I both know how vengeful vampires can be. They're going to want him to pay for what he's done, and we're going to want a powerful vampire on our side." She took a deep breath to calm herself down.

Damon walked closer up to the coffin. "And you stole this from Klaus?" he asked disbelievingly.

She shrugged. "Well, _I _didn't do it personally. I had help. It wasn't easy, either. I'm very, very lucky that Klaus didn't walk in on it happening."

"I think he'll figure it out when one of his coffins is gone," Damon replied dryly.

Katherine rolled her eyes. "I'm not stupid, Damon. Klaus still has five coffins. One of them is just empty," she said.

Damon sighed. He didn't trust Katherine's plan. He didn't trust the dead original in the coffin, whichever one it was. But they were out of other ideas, and Katherine wasn't stupid. The worst possibility was that they all died, and that was already a possibility.

He sighed again. "Let me call Stefan," he muttered, before walking out of the room.

_**~SD~**_

"I told you _not _to bring Elena."

Elena frowned at Damon as he led her and Stefan into the room with Katherine and the dead original. "I deserve to know what you two are doing," she reminded him.

_But you'll live longer if you stay in the dark, _he wanted to snap at her, but instead just settled for rolling his eyes.

Stefan broke in. "Why are we here, Damon?" he asked his brother.

Damon just shook his head. "It's easier to explain if I just show you."

The three walked down the stairs in the dark, and then into the room with candles, Katherine, and the coffin. The Petrova smirked at Elena who frowned with distaste at her double.

"What's she doing here?" she asked the Salvatores, but both were busy studying the coffin.

"It's my plan, Elena," Katherine said with a smirk. Elena just chose to ignore her and looked at the coffin instead.

Her eyebrows furrowed. "What's that?" she asked, walking towards it.

"It's an original," Stefan said, eyes widening with recognition. He remembered the coffins that held Klaus' family from the months he had been the hybrid's lackey. He then looked at Katherine. "How did you get this away from Klaus?"

She just smirked seductively at him. "I'm very good, Stefan," she purred.

Elena's frown deepened and she turned to Damon. "You're not… going to undagger it, are you?" she asked hesitantly.

He smirked at her. "Why, that's exactly what we plan to do, Elena."

She opened her mouth to protest, but Stefan spoke up. "Let's do it."

Damon raised an eyebrow. "You're okay with this? No objections at all?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Klaus _killed _them. They're all going to want revenge on them. We can use that to our advantage," Stefan said.

"My exact thoughts," Katherine said with a smirk.

"Stefan-" Elena argued, but all three vampires were ignoring her.

"Let's move this along, then. I do believe that you said we were short on time before Klaus finds out one of his coffins is missing," Damon said, already walking towards the coffin.

He lifted it open to reveal a young woman with dark brown hair, slightly pale skin, and high cheek bones. She was beautiful, despite her gray skin and overall dead appearance.

"She's kind of hot," Damon muttered under his breath, earning a dirty look from Elena. "You know, for a dead person," he added with a slight smirk.

"This is Lydia," Katherine said, gesturing to the dress Lydia was wearing, undoubtedly from the 15th century.

Stefan raised an eyebrow at her. "Why did you pick Lydia?" he asked her.

"Because Lydia is the most loyal out of all the originals," she said, walking up to Damon. "Therefore, she's the most vengeful."

Katherine raised an eyebrow at Damon. "Well? Would you do us the honors?"

Without a word, Damon reached over and grabbed the dagger protruding out of Lydia's unmoving chest. Then he yanked, and the dagger slid out of her like she was made of warm butter.

Nothing happened right away. In fact, the four had to wait almost half an hour until any signs of life came from Lydia. Elena leaned over the coffin to see the original twitch slightly as life came back into her. She frowned and leaned closer into her.

"Elena-" Damon started to say with alarm, but it was too late.

Lydia's brown eyes popped open, quickly turning red. Veins protruded under her eyes, and her white fangs flashed from her mouth. She let out a growl of thirst.

Elena didn't even have time to scream before Lydia grabbed the human and sunk her fangs into her neck.

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **First chapter! You guys should remember how loyal Lydia is. She's very, very loyal, and it'll be important as this story goes on.

Thank you to: sez23, SomebodyWhoCares, CherrySin, wizziewoo123, BeckyBoo12221, and jemmamaree for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	3. a new century

**Chapter two**

_A new century_

Damon yanked Elena off of Lydia and pushed the bleeding girl behind him. He growled angrily at the original, who was sitting up in her coffin, Elena's blood all over her face.

Her brown eyes were dazed, as if she had no idea what had just happened. They flickered over to each face in the room- Damon's, full of anger, Katherine's, full of anxiety, Elena's, full of fear, and Stefan's, full of apprehension and thirst as he stared at Elena's bloody throat.

Where was she?

It was as if Niklaus had just daggered her ten minutes ago, the memory was so fresh in her mind. She could still feel the dagger slide into her heart, hear the gasp of surprise fall from her lips. She could still see her brother's face under her eyelids, jaw clenched in determination as he daggered her. What she thought had been guilt in his blue eyes was only humanity, leaving him. Each time Niklaus daggered one of his siblings, he became a little more like the monster he always claimed to be.

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she stared at the people in the dark, moldy room with her. They wore clothes unfamiliar to her. They even looked a bit goofy, to a vampire who was used to styles of the late 1400's. Two things occurred to Lydia at the same time, as she stared at the four people who had undaggered her.

One, she definitely wasn't in England anymore. Two, it definitely wasn't the 15th century anymore either.

"Whe-where am I?" her voice came out as a croak, rough and hoarse, since she had been good as dead for the past 500 years and unable to use it.

"Well, you're definitely not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy," Damon told her dryly, still angry that she had fed from Elena.

Lydia's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "My name is not Dorothy," she said slowly. "It is Lydia. And what is Kansas?"

"Note to self- don't make pop culture references to vampires who have been daggered for 500 years," he muttered to himself, not bothering to answer Lydia's question.

Lydia's eyes drifted over to Elena, and then widened slightly in surprise. "Tatia?" she whispered. "Y-you're dead," she said slowly, before her eyes focused on the wound on her neck. "D-did I do that?" she asked slowly, disbelievingly.

Then Lydia looked at Katherine and her brown eyes widened even more. "Katerina?" She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly, so confused.

She had to get out of here.

In the blink of an eye, Lydia was gone. She was out of the coffin, out of the basement, up the stairs, and out of the house before any of the vampires could even think of stopping her.

Katherine cursed and ran a hand over her face. Damon just stared at the empty coffin Lydia had vacated. "Well," he said after a few silent seconds. "That could have gone better."

_**~SD~**_

Lydia may have been out of it, she may have had no idea where she was or what century she was in. She may have been thirsty, despite feeding on Elena, but she wasn't stupid. She was smart. And she was charming as well. No matter what year Lydia was in, that charm and knowledge remained with her, and they were enough to get her out of the current mess she was in.

It was dark out as Lydia stumbled down a street, wearing a dress from the 15th century and covered in blood. She needed to get herself together. She needed to find out where she was and what century it was. She needed a bath and a change of clothes. And she needed blood.

And then she needed to find out where Niklaus was, so she could rip him apart.

Lydia gritted her teeth, feeling rage boil up inside of her. He _killed _her. Her little brother killed her. He killed Finn too. He wasn't her brother anymore, he was a bastard. He was an evil, manipulative, untrustworthy bastard-

"Honey, are you alright?"

Lydia looked up to see a middle aged woman frowning at her. She was holding a plastic bag of fowl smelling things, most likely garbage. She was going to put it in a plastic container, and Lydia frowned too. This century was so confusing. She didn't understand anything.

She looked up at the woman and approached her. The woman gasped when she saw the blood on her dress and mouth, but Lydia stopped her. "Shh," she soothed, looking into the woman's blue eyes. "There is no need to be afraid. I need your help. And if you help me, I promise that I will not kill you. I am more moral than that."

She compelled the woman, and she instantly relaxed. A slight smile fell on her lips. "What do you need, sweetie?" she asked her.

Lydia smiled slightly. She always placed more value on human life than her siblings, except maybe Elijah. She felt a bang in her dead heart at the thought of her eldest brother. Was he alright? Was he out there looking for her? Or was he daggered too?

She thought about Kol and Rebekah as well. How were they? Daggered too? Did Niklaus dagger his entire family?

Lydia shook her head slightly, she had to focus on one thing at a time. Then she turned back to the middle aged woman. "What is your name?" she asked her.

"Diane," she replied, and Lydia nodded.

"Diane, I would very much appreciate it if you invited me into your house," she said gesturing to the small house behind them. Houses had drastically changed since she had last been alive as well.

The woman nodded. "Would you come in?" she asked, and Lydia smiled.

"I would love to," she said, and Diane led her into the house.

Lydia looked around the kitchen, frowning as she spotted unfamiliar things, such as the TV and the oven and the toaster. The room was illuminated by light as soon as Diane flipped a switch, but Lydia didn't see any candles anywhere.

"What century is it, Diane?" she asked, turning to face the human.

The woman's eyebrows furrowed at the strange question. "Uh, the 21st, I think."

Lydia cursed, her anger at Klaus growing. She had been daggered near the very end of the 15th century, which meant she had been daggered for around 500 years.

Lydia had spent half of her life with a dagger in her heart.

Gritting her teeth, she clenched her fists. When she got her hands on Niklaus…

"What can I help you with, honey?" Diane asked her, drawing Lydia's attention back to her.

"I need a change of clothes, and a bath. I need to clean up and look like I belong in this century. Can you help me with that?" Lydia asked her.

Diane's lips pursed in thought. "Oh, well, I have a shower. Will that do?"

Lydia's eyebrows rose. "A _shower_? What's that? Like a rain shower?"

Diane shook her head slightly. "No, it's how people clean themselves. I'll just show you."

Diane spent the next forty five minutes explaining to Lydia how to use a shower. Lydia was a little wary of the technology of this new century she was in, but she had to adapt to survive in it. Eventually she understood the shower enough to use it, and then took a very long, very cold one as she taught herself how to wash with shampoo, conditioner, and body wash.

Half an hour later, Lydia came out of the shower dripping wet but clean. Her long brown hair fell to her hips- she would have to cut it later, in order to fit in. She sighed as she stared at her reflection- being dead for five hundred years didn't help her skin whatsoever. She was too pale, she looked like death. Then Lydia shook her head and focused on things as shallow as her physical appearance.

Lydia dried her hair and then braided it down her back. She then looked at the things Diane had laid out for her on the toilet- another new invention to the original, as were the things on it. She picked up a bar that Diane had told her was deodorant. She was supposed to take the cap off and rub it under her armpits. Lydia followed the directions, still confused as to why she needed "deodorant." She was fine without it for the five centuries she had lived. She didn't question Diane, though. The human knew more about this century than she did.

Diane had clothes left over from when her nieces came to visit, and had given Lydia a yellow sundress, a plain white bra, and underwear to wear. She frowned at the bra in her hands. They were after her time, and she didn't see why she had to start wearing one now. Still, she put it on, frowning at how uncomfortable it was. he kept it on, though.

After pulling on the underwear, which were easy enough to understand, Lydia stared at the dress in her hands. It was an offensive yellow, with ugly brown flowers on it. She frowned at it, unwilling to put it on. It was also too _innocent _for her. The dress looked like it belonged on a girl with pigtails and ribbons in her hair, not a thousand year old original vampire with a thirst for revenge against her brother.

Still, Lydia pulled it on. It fell to her knees and she felt almost naked. In the 21st century, she was barely showing any skin at all. But it would be very, very scandalous to show as much leg as she was in the 15th century.

She stared distastefully at her reflection before walking out of the bathroom. Diane was waiting for her back in the kitchen. "Do you need anything more, honey?" she asked her kindly.

Lydia nodded, almost feeling guilty at what she had to do next. But she wouldn't kill the woman, she had more control than that. "I'm thirsty," she told her.

"Oh, well I can get you something to drink. Do you like tea-" Diane was cut off when Lydia suddenly flashed in front of her.

Diane started, eyes widening in fear. "W-what are you doing?" She asked Lydia.

"Shh, don't be afraid," she assured the woman. "I'm not going to kill you. But I would appreciate it if you didn't scream."

She grabbed Diane's wrist, biting into it. Then Lydia stifled the woman's scream with her hand. She continued feeding, the blood warm and running smoothly down her throat. She only stopped when she felt Diane's pulse grow weak. She made a promise not to kill her, and Lydia liked to think she kept her promises. Plus, she didn't feel like hiding a dead body.

Lydia pulled away and then stared at the shaking woman. She gently helped her into a chair and then bit into her wrist. Even though Diane struggled, she forced her to drink her blood. After Diane was healed, Lydia looked into her blue eyes, so full of fear, and compelled her.

"You will remember nothing of the past two hours," she compelled.

"I will remember nothing," Diane repeated.

"Now go upstairs and go to sleep," she said. Diane stood up and walked up the stairs. Lydia watched her go, before leaving the helpful middle aged woman's house.

Lydia was torn between searching for Niklaus- if he was even in whatever town she was currently in- and searching out the people who had undaggered her. She decided that seeking revenge on Niklaus was more important, especially if she could find out what had happened to the rest of her family. She found herself missing them, all of them. Even though they caused unnecessary drama in her life, and they hadn't been a real family in centuries, she loved her family. They were the most important thing in life. She would do anything for the lot of them, and she had. That was why Niklaus' betrayal stung so much.

That was why Lydia was so vengeful.

Lydia walked into town unknowingly, and the bright lights dazed her. She wasn't used to whatever environment she was in, she barely knew anything about the century she had woken up in. But Lydia tried her best to blend in, to adapt. She acted as if she knew what she was doing as she walked down a sidewalk full of people, all the while making notes in her head about the 21st century.

In the twenty first century, there were a lot of bright lights, and not from candles. There were also stores and bars and such, like the market or trade, but in permanent buildings. Women were much more wild, as well. Everywhere Lydia turned, she saw public displays of affection. Women also had a tendency to dress so revealing, she couldn't help but to think them whores. The slang this century was much more vulgar, the curse words making Lydia frown and wonder if they kissed their loved ones with their mouths.

Lydia stopped in front of a building labeled "The Mystic Grill." She figured it to be a pub of some sort. So she walked into it, knowing that if Niklaus were in this town, he would be in the pub, consuming alcohol like it was air.

She stepped in, the bright lights and loud noises making Lydia even more dazed and confused. Why were people so loud this century? She did a quick scan over the crowd, noting that people's hair were much shorter this century. There was no Niklaus in the bar. With a sigh, she turned to leave, when a man whistled at her.

"Hey baby, leaving so soon?" He leered at her, undressing her with his eyes.

Lydia looked at him, nose wrinkled in disgust, scoffed once, and then walked out of the Grill. She wasn't one to be so arrogant, but she knew when she was above somebody. And Lydia was definitely above a drunk asshole hitting on her.

She walked down the sidewalk, only to be pulled into an alley and slammed against a wall by her shoulders. The same man was staring angrily down at her, reeking of alcohol. "You think you're too good for me, bitch?" he growled, veins under his eyes darkening, fangs lengthening. "We'll see about that."

Lydia easily flipped them over, slamming her attacker into the wall hard enough to put a dent in it. She gripped his throat, staring up at him, not amused. She didn't have time for this.

Lydia figured he had been a vampire, looking for his next meal. But when she saw his eyes, yellow, she knew he wasn't a vampire. He was a crossbreed. He was a hybrid.

"So it seems Niklaus has broken his curse after all," she mused, not loosening her grip. Five hundred years really was a long time.

The hybrid frowned. "How do you know Klaus?" he asked, his face returning to normal.

"He's my brother, I know him better than you ever will," she said, gripping his throat so tight, she would've suffocated a human.

The hybrid's eyes widened. "You're a-"

He never got to finish his sentence. Lydia sunk her hand into the hybrid's chest and ripped his heart out.

The hybrid fell to the ground, and she dropped his heart next to him. With a quick look around to make sure there had been no witnesses, Lydia turned around and walked out of the alley, only stopping to wipe her bloody hand on the hybrid's shirt.

She didn't care if the body was discovered at that point. Lydia was in a bad mood. The only good thing was that she knew that Klaus was in town. But before she confronted her brother, she needed to learn more information about what was going on.

She needed to talk to the people who undaggered her.

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **just so you guys know where this story is, involving the show, the first two seasons happened, Stefan went with Klaus, they figured out that to make hybrids, you need Elena's blood. Only Rebekah was never undaggered, and they never learned about the original family. And Mikael was never awakened. Yet. ;)

If you're ever confused about where my story stands in the show, just message me and I'll try to explain it. I know it gets confusing, even for me.

Thank you to: stina222, belladu57, NoseInANovel, Becky, MissCaityGrace, Cassie-D 101, jemmamaree, AudreyDarke96, CherrySin, and sez23 for reviewing!

Review, please and thank you!

~Abby :)


	4. five hundred years is a long time

**Chapter three**

_Five hundred years is a long time_

Lydia traced her steps back to the house she had been undaggered in to find it empty. The four people who had undaggered her were gone, but her coffin, opened with dried blood staining the silk lining the inside, was still there.

Their scents were still there, and fresh too. So Lydia followed them. The four scents led to the same a place- a house. A huge house, more of a manor than a house. It reminded Lydia of the ones she had lived in over her many lifetimes. Her family had expensive tastes, and Lydia herself admitted to liking nice things.

She stood outside, debating her next moves. Three of them had been vampires, but she was an original for god sake and was unkillable. If it came to fight, she would win it, no problem. But Lydia didn't want it to come to a fight. She didn't want to have to kill them. Because they saved her. For whatever reason, they undaggered her.

And that meant Lydia owed them.

She walked briskly into the house, as a quiet as a shadow. It helped that she was bare foot. She stopped outside the living room, listening in on the conversation that was going on between her four rescuers.

"She bit me," said the one who looked like Tatia but was not Katerina. She was human, very much so. Lydia had tasted her blood as proof.

"You try being locked up for 500 years and not be thirsty, Elena," Katerina said with a roll of her eyes.

"You shouldn't of gone anywhere near her," one of the men said to Elena, the sarcastic one, the dark haired vampire with pretty blue eyes. The one who was capable of being charming, yet had the ability to make people want to stake him within a short amount of time. He was Damon Salvatore.

"I wasn't thinking," Elena replied.

"Obviously," Damon said dryly, earning a glare from her.

"What do we do now?" the other man cut in, the younger one. The one who looked constantly on edge, especially around humans. He looked like a recovering addict to Lydia, and she knew he was. He was a blood addict, most likely a ripper. He was Stefan Salvatore.

"There is an original who has no idea what century she's in running around, and if Klaus finds out we stole he sister, he's going to kill us all before we even get the chance to see if Lydia will be useful in any way," Stefan continued.

Lydia pursed her lips. So they had undaggered her for entirely selfish reasons. They wanted to use her against Niklaus. She wasn't sure how she felt about that, even though she was already planning revenge against her brother in her head, plans which were bloody and violent.

"Well, we should probably track her down. She's probably eaten half the town by now," Damon said.

Only Elena was bothered by his words. Only she cared whether Mystic Falls was massacred or not. Stefan used to care, but he wasn't caring about anything anymore. Not Mystic Falls, not Elena. Or, at least, he pretended not to. He only admitted to caring about killing Klaus.

"Do not worry, your tragic little town is safe from me."

Four pairs of eyes trained on Lydia as she walked slowly into the room, arms crossed over her chest. "I've long learned to control my thirst," she added, before looking at Elena. "I apologize for attacking you. But a human really should not get too close to a vampire who had been starved for five hundred years."

Lydia looked at Katerina, identifiable by her curly hair, where Elena's was straight. "Katerina, lovely to see you after all this time," she said, a hard edge to her voice.

Katherine stiffened, not taking her eyes off of Lydia as the original approached her. Her voice dropped an octave as her brown eyes hardened. "You broke my brother's heart, Katerina. Do not think that won't go unpunished."

And with that threat, Katherine was gone. Lydia just shrugged as she turned to face the remaining people. It wasn't like she could hide forever. And Katerina Petrova was nowhere near the top of the list of people Lydia needed to seek revenge on.

"Well, you clean up nice," Damon said after a beat of silence, causing Lydia to look at him. "I mean, it's hard for anyone to pull off that color, but you look good for a vampire who was dead three hours ago."

Lydia smirked slowly at him, but she was too smart to fall for his charm, his pretty words. Besides, she came here for one reason and one reason only- to find out more information. Not to flirt with pretty vampires.

"Let's get down to business, shall we?" she said. "I have questions, and you have the answers. I'm also sure that you have questions of your own as well."

"Fine, we'll go first," Damon said, sitting down on a couch. "Was Katherine right? Do you want to kill Klaus right now?"

Lydia raised an eyebrow. Kill? She never really thought of killing Klaus, mostly because he couldn't be killed. She just wanted to beat him and stab him and rip out his organs. She wanted to make him bleed and scream and feel pain. She wanted to rip her brother apart. But she didn't want to kill him.

Still, she decided to answer vaguely. "Sometimes there's honor in revenge," she said with a slight smile. She was quoting Elijah, but they didn't know that. They didn't know her family or anything about her. They just wanted to use her as a tool, as a weapon. They'd gladly let her die if they had to, maybe even preferred it once they got what they wanted.

Stefan raised his eyebrows at her, arms crossed over his chest. "That's what Elijah said too, before he betrayed us."

Lydia turned on him so fast, he almost jumped. _"How do you know my brother?" _she practically growled, her eyes slits.

Damon just smirked arrogantly, poking at Lydia when she clearly shouldn't be poked. "Oh, Elijah and I were super close. BFFs, him and I. I even killed him once or twice," he drawled.

Lydia's hand was around his throat so fast, he didn't have time to even try to fight back. She slammed him against a wall, nails digging into his skin. Her brown eyes, hard as gold, glinted with controlled rage as she stared into his icy blue ones.

"I would be _very _careful to choose which words came out of your mouth next," she said, her voice as hard as her eyes.

"Stop it!" Elena exclaimed, speaking up for Damon when Stefan didn't. "You can't kill him!"

Lydia turned her head, silencing Elena with one burning look. "Be quiet," she snapped, before turning back to Damon.

"You were saying about Elijah? You killed him? He is dead?" she swallowed slightly, eyes burning at the thought. Not Elijah. Not her big brother whom she looked up to, idolized even. If he was dead, what about Kol and Rebekah? Were they dead too? Was her entire family- as broken and dysfunctional as they were- just gone?

Five hundred years really was a long time.

Damon sighed, finding Lydia's nails in his skin uncomfortable. "Yeah, I killed him. Yeah, he's dead-" He gritted his teeth in pain as Lydia's nails sunk deep into his neck. "Wait! Wait! _I'm _not the reason he's dead right now. That'd be your other brother's fault."

Despite having three other brothers despite Elijah- four, technically- she knew which one Damon was talking about. Klaus. Klaus killed Elijah. Like he killed her and Finn.

"Maybe 'dead' was the wrong term," Damon said after a few seconds. "He daggered. Your precious Elijah betrayed us a few months ago when we tried to kill Klaus. We almost had him, and then Elijah betrayed us."

Lydia frowned. That didn't sound like Elijah. He was moral, honorable, trustworthy. "Why?" she asked, loosening her grip on Damon.

"Because Klaus lied and said he'd reunite him with your family," Stefan said from behind her. "He thought Klaus had dumped all of your bodies into the ocean, that's why he wanted Klaus dead in the first place."

Lydia smiled slightly. "That sounds like Elijah," she said quietly. He'd do anything for his family, just like her. He had, too, just like her.

Lydia frowned suddenly. Parts of their story made little sense. Where were Rebekah and Kol during all of this? Who did they side with? Rebekah most likely with Klaus, but Kol was impulsive and a loose cannon. He probably chose no one and went off to drink and frolic with half naked women.

And why would Elijah go through all of that for just her and Finn? The last time she was alive, he loved Klaus dearly. Granted, their relationship had been on the rocks when she died, but still. He had Rebekah and Kol to think about. Would he really go through the trouble of killing their brother for just Lydia and Finn?

"When you say bodies," she said slowly, dreading their answer, "you mean just Finn and I, yes?"

Stefan and Elena didn't know who Finn, was but Damon did. He frowned slightly at the original, noticing how vulnerable and… sad she looked. She really did love her family.

"No," Damon said bluntly. "I don't."

Lydia let go of Damon so quickly he fell to the ground. She ran a hand over her face. She felt like she had been hit by a train. Her entire family was daggered, carried around in coffins by Klaus for who knew how long. For some reason, that hit Lydia hard. She felt like she had the wind knocked out of her.

Stefan, Damon, and Elena watched her carefully. An original having a breakdown was not a good thing. "You wouldn't happen to have any blood here, would you?" she said finally. "I don't care if it's fresh or not."

Damon sighed. He didn't want to share his blood stash with an original who almost choked him, but one look from Elena and he said, "Yeah, I have blood bags in the cooler, down in the basement."

Lydia frowned. "I don't know what any of those are."

Damon sighed. "I'll show you."

After Damon handed Lydia two bags of blood, he left her alone down in the basement. She didn't drink the blood, though. She wasn't thirsty. She just needed to be alone.

Taking a deep breath, Lydia leaned against the huge metal box Damon called a cooler and closed her eyes. Her entire family being daggered changed everything.

She had to get them back. And she was even willing to kill Klaus to do it.

Tossing the blood bags back in the cooler, Lydia walked up the basement stairs, and back towards the living room. She needed to talk to Elena, Damon, and Stefan. Only, somebody else barged into the living room before she could.

Lydia hid behind a corner as she walked Klaus stalk into the living room with two hybrids flanking him. He looked pissed off, his blue eyes hard and full of anger.

Despite his hair being much shorter and curlier than it had been in the 1400's, Lydia thought Klaus remained relatively the same. He still had his terrible temper, his werewolf temper. It was the same temper that killed all of his siblings.

"Klaus, what a lovely surprise," Damon said dryly, standing in front of Elena, as if to protect her. "Don't you know it's rude to enter a house without knocking?"

All three of them expected Klaus to be there because of Lydia. But he was there for an entirely different reason. "Would any of you happen to know what happened to one of my hybrids tonight?" he asked, just barely containing his anger.

Lydia broke off a leg of a nearby chair and shoved it through one of the hybrids' throats. He gurgled on his own blood, and she ripped out his heart. Then Lydia turned to face the other hybrid, and she swiftly removed his head from his body, blood spurting onto the walls.

She dropped the head and turned to face her brother's back. Wiping her hands on her ugly dress, Lydia said, "I'm afraid that would be my doing."

Klaus slowly turned around to face his big sister. His blue eyes were wide with shock. "Lydia," he breathed, not believing his eyes.

She smirked at him. "Hello, Niklaus. Did you miss me?"

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **thank you to: AudreyDarke96, Lady Syndra, SomebodyWhoCares, sez23, stina222, Cassie-D 101, and MissCaityGrace for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	5. the confrontation

**Chapter four**

_The confrontation_

Lydia and Klaus stared off. Out of the corner of her eye, Lydia noticed Damon smirking, like he was looking forward to a good fight. She felt herself swell with rage as she stared at her brother. Her traitor, bastard brother.

She turned to the three. "Would you mind leaving me and my brother alone for a few moments?' she asked with a raised eyebrow, indicating that they had no choice.

"Try not to destroy the living room, but I won't blame you if you do," Damon said, as he, Elena, and Stefan filed out of the living room. He stopped to drag the hybrids' bodies out with him, muttering about blood being a bitch to get out of the carpet.

Lydia turned back to her brother, slowly stalking towards him. Klaus watched her movements with a careful eye, taking a step back for every step she took forward. "Now, Lydia, there's no need to-" he started to say, but Lydia cut him off.

She pushed Klaus, hard, and he flew into the wall. "You _killed _me!" she screeched. "_Killed me!" _

"Now, that's a bit of an over exaggeration, Lydia," Klaus said, standing up. "We can't die, you know that. You were just daggered, out of the way like I prefer you to be."

Gritting her teeth, Lydia punched him, hard, in the face. Her hand throbbed, and she was sure she had broken something, but then it healed and the pain went away like it was never there. Her brown eyes were focused on her brother, narrowed in anger.

She quickly struck out and kicked Klaus in the stomach, causing him to fall to his knees. Then she kneed him in the face, and he fell to the ground, groaning. She circled him, like a lioness circling her prey.

"You bastard," she whispered, clenching her hands into fists, her nails digging into her skin. "500 _years, _you had me in a coffin, dragging me around while I rotted there. I missed out on half of my _life. _Who are you, to take that away from me? Who the bloody hell are you, Niklaus?"

Klaus stood up, looking pissed off, but not nearly as outraged as Lydia. They stood inches from each other, staring into each other's eyes, daring the other to make the first move. Lydia struck out again, kneeing her brother in the stomach. Every groan of pain he emitted didn't sooth her anger. At this point, she doubted even killing him herself would make her feel better.

"I had been nothing but loyal to you, my entire life! I had put everything in my life after you, after our family! And how do you repay me? You stick a dagger in my heart," she spat, kicking him again in the side. Lydia just kept kicking Klaus, hearing ribs break, but she didn't stop. Then she heard her own foot break, but she kept kicking through the pain.

"_Lydia!"_

Klaus pushed Lydia, and she fell into the wall. She breathed heavily, watching her younger brother stand up and brush himself off. His blue eyes were ice cold, full of barely controlled anger. She watched him in disgust, slumped against the wall.

"Enough," he snapped. "Enough, Lydia. You're making a fool of yourself. You're making yourself look pathetic."

She was. She looked like she was throwing a temper tantrum, but it was so much more than that. This wasn't about her, not really. This was about their family. This was about how Klaus ruined them. This was about how her brother broke the trust they all had in him when he stuck the daggers in their hearts. This was about how loyal Lydia was disgusted by Klaus' obvious act of disloyalty.

And that was why Lydia was beyond anger, beyond rage. Because betraying your family- your own flesh and blood- was worse than killing babies to Lydia. It was a sin just to think about betraying your family to her.

Fights in families were normal, healthy. Feuds were even normal, especially in the Mikaelson family. But betraying your family, killing them, leaving them to rot while you carried them around in coffins, it was disgraceful. Wrong. Immoral.

It went against everything Lydia knew and believed in.

"You killed them all, Niklaus," she whispered. He looked up, confused for a moment before he realized what she was talking about.

"You killed our entire family," she said, louder this time. "You killed Finn and Elijah and Kol and Rebekah and me. You killed us all. And maybe it didn't mean death for us, but it was the same act as killing. I should have seen what was to come when you killed Finn, but I didn't. I let it slide, because he was a danger to himself. He was ashamed of what we were, and he wanted out. He wanted to find a way to die, since we burned the white oak tree. I believed that him being daggered was better for him, at least for now. And I was so _foolish."_

Lydia stood up, looking at Klaus with contempt in her eyes. "I am not angry at you for killing me, Niklaus. I'm outraged at you for killing them. Tell me why. Tell me why you did what you did. Tell me how you looked our siblings in their eyes, slid daggers into their hearts, and watched as they turned into corpses," she whispered, though her words had the same affect they would have if she had been screaming them.

Klaus remained silent, his lips pressed together in a hard line. Lydia continued her rant. "When did you kill them all, Niklaus? Finn was in the 12th century, myself in the 15th. Who came next? Kol? Rebekah? I know not Elijah, because he was trying to hold you responsible for what you had done. But you killed him too, eventually."

Finally, Klaus spoke. His voice was clipped, full of silent anger. "I daggered Kol in the early 20th century, in London. I daggered Rebekah almost twenty years later in Chicago. And then I daggered Elijah months ago, right here, where it all began. Are you happy now, Lydia? Now that you know?"

Lydia vaguely thought that she had no idea who or what "Chicago" was, when her eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean, 'where it all began?'" she asked almost suspiciously.

Klaus smirked at her then. It was a smug, twisted smirk, like he was silently saying _I know something you don't know. _It was like they were children again, and for a second a wave of nostalgia hit Lydia so hard, it almost knocked her over. Then she remembered what was going on, and the wave went away as fast as it had come.

"Mystic Falls in the town we're in right now, Sister," Klaus started to say. "But a thousand years, it was nothing more than a village full of werewolves and witches and natives worshiping gods so that their crops wouldn't go bad that year."

Lydia's eyes widened. "Th-this is our home? This is where we grew up?" she asked disbelievingly. Klaus nodded.

If anything, that just made the whole situation worse. Lydia growled, her brown eyes darkening. Then, in a flash, she attacked Klaus. Her hands sunk into his body, her nails tore at his body like claws. She beat him, broke bones, tried her damnest to make her brother pay for what he had done.

Finally, Klaus let out a growl that was more animal than human, more werewolf than vampire. His hands gripped Lydia's arms hard enough to leave a bruise, and then he threw her. She landed on a coffee table, breaking it.

As Lydia's fractured ribs healed, the light caught something shiny and it grabbed her attention. She turned her head to see the dagger that had rested in her heart for 519 years. She grabbed it, and stood up.

Klaus looked worse for the wear as Lydia marched towards her, determination in her eyes. She certainly had done a number on him. Klaus barely had time to react as Lydia, in the same exact way as he had done to her, grabbed her brother's shoulder, looked into his eyes, and slid the dagger into his heart.

He grunted in pain, his eyes never leaving hers. _"That," _she whispered in a low, dangerous voice, "was for our family, you sorry excuse for a person."

Then Lydia pulled the dagger out, snarled at him one last time, and walked past Klaus, bumping his shoulder as she past. She felt as if she had done a sufficient job of beating her little brother- for now, anyway.

Lydia looked back once she reached the door, but Niklaus was long gone.

_**~SD~**_

"I see that you destroyed the living room. Thank you for doing that, really," Damon said sarcastically, as he, Stefan, and Elena walked back into the living room to see Lydia lounging casually on a couch, sipping from a glass of blood, observing the living room-turned-war zone with polite curiosity.

Lydia paid no attention to Damon's words as she stood up and set her empty glass on a coffee table that managed to survive the fight between her and Klaus. She looked up at the three, and they got to see her ripped and blood stained dress, her messy hair, and dead eyes. But her overall attitude was business-like. "We never really got the chance to talk about it," she started to say, "but the reason you undaggered me was because you want my help to kill Klaus, yes?"

Stefan nodded. "You're not going to do it, though, are you? You're too loyal to your family."

Lydia ignored him and began pacing. "I have three conditions," she said. "Three conditions, that, if you agree to them, I'll help you. One, I get to keep my dagger." She held it up. It was stained with Klaus' blood. "I don't want it getting into the wrong hands, and, frankly, I don't trust you not to dagger me as soon as you get what you want to me."

"Oh, no hard feelings. We don't trust you either," Damon said bluntly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Lydia raised an eyebrow at him. "Then you really should work on that, Damon. if we're going to be on the same side, working together, there should be some trust between us," she told him.

Damon seemed taken aback, but Stefan quickly stepped in. "Fine," he said. "What's your second condition?"

"That, if it comes down to it, I get to kill Klaus myself," she said, and they could tell from her eyes that this would be a deal breaker.

Stefan looked ready to argue, but Damon glared at him, silently saying _don't screw this up. _He sighed and nodded. "Fine, what else?"

Lydia took a deep breath. "In turn for my help, I want your help in getting my siblings back, in undaggering them."

Four more originals running around Mystic Falls? That didn't seem like a good idea to the three. As if sensing their hesitancy, Lydia quickly added, "My family will not harm the townspeople of Mystic Falls. I bet we'll leave as soon as I've upheld my part of the bargain."

The brothers exchanged looks, and then Damon slowly nodded. "Fine, that's doable, I suppose. So that's it? Those are all of your conditions?"

Lydia nodded, and then Elena spoke up. "So you'll help us? You'll really help us?"

Lydia sighed, but nodded slowly. "Yes. I'll help you kill my brother."

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **thank you to: AudreyDarke96, SomebodyWhoCares, sez23, MissCaityGrace, KimmyWSmith, NoseInANovel, dragonrain618, CherrySin, Dove L Salvatore, Lady Syndra, stinna222, and jemmamaree for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	6. family above all

**Chapter five**

_Family above all_

_The 11__th__ century_

"_Just focus, Lydia," Elijah told her patiently, adjusting his sister's hold on the bow. "You can do this."_

_Lydia sighed, visibly frustrated. "Maybe I cannot, Elijah. Maybe there is a reason women do not use weapons."_

_They had been out in the middle of the woods for hours. Elijah had woken Lydia up that morning and told her that he was going to teach her how to handle a bow and arrow, and that, by the end of the day, she would be an expert at archery. His sister was due to be married soon, because of her age, and he didn't want her to move out of the house, and away from his protection, without common knowledge of how to protect herself._

"_Just relax your shoulders, take a deep breath, aim straight, and let go of the string," he instructed, taking a step away from her. "Trust me, sister, if Kol can learn how to do this, you will have no problem."_

_This put a smile on Lydia's lips. "Are you sure, Elijah?" she asked, looking up at her big brother._

_He smiled slightly down at her. "Yes, Lydia. You are much smarter than Kol."_

_She couldn't argue with that. Her brother wasn't the brightest of the bunch. Lydia turned her attention back towards the tree trunk they had been using as a target. A bulls eye had been carved into it, and her eyes focused on the center._

_Lydia drew back the string, relaxed her shoulders, took a deep breath, made sure her arrow was straight, and then she let go. the arrow shot through the air and went right into the center of the bulls eye. _

_Lydia cheered, jumping up and down in pride at her accomplishment. Elijah chuckled at her, smiling as he looked down at his little sister in pride._

"_I did it!" she exclaimed, beaming up at him._

"_You did," he agreed. "I told you that you could. You even did better than Niklaus, but he is no good at archery."_

_She threw her arms around him. "Thank you, Elijah," she whispered, suddenly somber. If their father ever found out that Elijah had taught her how to shoot an arrow…_

"_Elijah! Lydia!"_

_The two jumped apart, and Lydia looked up at him in fear. Always the quick thinker, Elijah took the bow out of Lydia's hands, and took her place, so that it looked like he had been the one to shoot the arrow._

_Mikael stormed into the clearing, frowning at his oldest son and oldest daughter. "What are you two doing?" he demanded suspiciously._

_Lydia spoke up. "I was just watching Elijah practice, father," she said, her heart thumping erratically in her chest. Her father frightened her. He frightened all of them._

_His eyes narrowed, and for a second both Lydia and Elijah feared that Mikael suspected the truth, that Elijah had been training his sister how to use a bow, something Mikael seriously disapproved of. But then their father relaxed._

"_Alright," he said. "Go help your mother with supper, Lydia," he said._

_She nodded, her eyes downcast. "Yes, father." Then she quickly ran away to go help Esther. They had almost been caught, and if they had been, they would've been in serious trouble, especially Elijah._

_The things he risked for his sister._

"Rise and shine, Princess. Don't think that you're just going to sleep the day away."

Lydia sat up, running a hand through her hair. The first dream she had had in 500 years was a flashback of the time Elijah had taught her how to use a bow and arrow. It occurred to her just then how much Elijah had risked for their family, for her, even back a thousand years ago.

She frowned at Damon. "Can I help you, Damon?" she asked, trying her best to sound polite. She was staying his house, after all.

Elena pushed past Damon, watching the original with slightly wary eyes. "I wanted to know if you want to go shopping with me today. We need to get you clothes from this century, and you need to get a haircut, and you need to learn more about the 21st century."

Lydia frowned. "You're willing to do that for me?" she asked.

"Ignoring my input, as usual, I might add," Damon added, frowning at Elena. Lydia frowned at him. There was something in the way he looked at her…

"So, do you want to go shopping with me, or not, Lydia?" Elena asked, drawing her attention back to the doppelganger.

"I'm not sure what 'shopping' is, but yes, why not?" Lydia said with a smile.

"Trust me, you'll regret knowing as soon as you find out," Damon muttered, and Elena glared at him.

"Great, I'll go get you some clothes of mine that you can borrow," Elena said. Damon followed her out, and Lydia was left alone again.

"_What about her, Elijah?"_

_Elijah looked at the girl Lydia had pointed to, but just shook his head. "Lydia, stop this," he said, and she frowned._

"_Why? What is wrong with Maura? She is very pretty, brother! And father would approve of her family!" Lydia exclaimed following him as he walked away from her._

"_She is not-" Elijah stopped himself, but Lydia knew what he was going to say. She wasn't Tatia, and therefore he wasn't interested._

_Lydia sighed, gritting her teeth. She was so sick of Tatia Petrova. She had nothing on the girl, not even her beauty, like most girls in their village. And then both Elijah and Niklaus fell in love with her, and her family slowly fell apart at the seams. _

"_Just because she isn't Tatia bloody Petrova doesn't mean she isn't worthy of being your wife, Elijah. You'd be perfectly happy with her," Lydia argued._

"_But I wouldn't love her, Lydia," he said. "I would just love Tatia. And I would have to watch her be with Niklaus."_

"_No, you wouldn't," she said. "At this very moment, Rebekah is having the same conversation with him. We're determined to get you two speaking by the end of the week."_

_Elijah clenched his jaw but said nothing. He just walked away from Lydia, and she sighed. Her brothers hadn't spoken in days. And when they did speak, they were fighting. All over one girl. _

"_What happened to family above all, Elijah?" she shouted after him. "What happened to always and forever?"_

_Elijah stopped, sighed, and looked back at her. "You don't understand, Lydia," he said. "Sometimes, there are things more important than family."_

"_No," Lydia spat, glaring at him. _"You _don't understand! There is nothing more important than family. _Nothing."

"_You've never been in love, Lydia," Elijah argued._

"_And if turning my back on my family is love, then I never wish to be," she retorted, turning her back on him. "Talk to me again when you have your priorities in order, Elijah."_

"_Lydia-" he sighed, watching her walk away from her. "Come back. Lydia!"_

_But Lydia didn't turn around. Elijah didn't understand, he didn't. Nothing was ever above family._

_Nothing._

"Really, what has happened to this generation?" Lydia said, as she and Elena walked in what she called a "mall." "I remember when public displays of affection were left for the bedroom, and only prostitutes wore revealing clothing. That's how you knew they were prostitutes."

"Things change, I guess." Elena shrugged, as Lydia ran a hand through her now short hair. She would never get used to it. But adapting to change was key for survival. Those who refused to adapt got left behind in the dust. Lydia refused to be one of those people.

"I was wondering," Elena began, as they walked into a clothing store, "If you could tell me about your family? Your siblings?"

"Do want me to include the dead ones?" she asked, frowning at a halter top. She had seen underwear less revealing.

"The dead ones?" Elena repeated, confused.

"Yes. I technically have seven siblings, but only five became vampires. The other two died, quite young, actually," Lydia mused.

"Can you explain? I'm confused," Elena said.

Lydia took a deep breath. "I, along with Finn and Elijah, were born in Europe. My father, Mikael, was a land owner there. I had another brother, Erik, who died at four, because of the plague. I don't remember much of him. I was two when he died. He was born between Finn and me, and his death was why we moved. My parents didn't wish to lose any more children. We never spoke of him when I was growing up. It was almost like he never existed.

"My mother, Esther, moved us to a village that is now the exact location of present day Mystic Falls. There, she had my other siblings, Niklaus, Kol, Rebekah, and Henrik. And there was where she had an affair with a werewolf."

"What happened next?" Elena asked impatiently.

Lydia smiled slightly. "Patience, Elena. There's so much left to the story."

"_Rebekah, would you care to help me?" Lydia asked her little sister sarcastically, as she made dinner._

_Rebekah sighed. "I want to go explore the caves with Niklaus," she whined._

"_And you can, after you help me make dinner," she replied._

_There was a sudden crash and loud neighing that broke up the sisters' conversation. The two frowned before running out of their house and outside. They followed the noise to the stables, only to find Niklaus and Kol looking very troubled. Little Henrik was with them, looking lost and scared._

"_What happened?" Lydia demanded of her brothers._

_She looked into the stables behind them, to find them completely empty of horses. She frowned, and looked back to her younger brothers. "What did you two do?" she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest._

"_Why do you assume we did something?" Kol asked._

"_Because it's always you two!" she exclaimed, glaring at them. "And you dragged Henrik into this!" But really, she was afraid for them. What would Mikael do when he found out? Especially to Niklaus?_

"_What happened here?"_

_Lydia's breath caught in her throat. "Go back inside, Rebekah. Now. And take Henrik with you."_

_For the first time, Rebekah listened to her, and grabbed Henrik, practically dragging her youngest brother and sibling into the house. Lydia stood protectively in front of her younger brothers._

_Mikael stormed up to them. "What happened here?" he repeated, eyes widening at the sight of the empty stables. "Where are the horses?" he snarled._

_The three siblings remained silent. Even Kol knew better. Mikael looked past Lydia and glared at Kol and Klaus. "What did you two do?" he growled, stepping forward._

"_I did it," Lydia gasped out. "It was me."_

"_Lydia-" Klaus said, his voice low. She silenced him with a look._

"_And what were you doing in the stables?" Mikael asked, clearly skeptical._

"_Clearly not doing what I was supposed to be doing," Lydia said, giving her father attitude on purpose. Kol's eyebrows raised. He admired his sister's bravery._

_Mikael's eyes narrowed, and then he slapped his eldest daughter across the face. She gasped at the pain. She was not used to being punished._

"_You think this is a funny situation, Girl?" he growled at her. Lydia swallowed, placing a hand over her stinging cheek._

"_N-no, father, I don't," she stuttered out._

"_I'll show you something funny," Mikael growled, ignoring her words. Then he dragged Lydia away from her brothers, to punish her for something she didn't do._

_The things she did for family._

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **thank you to: AudreyDarke96, stina222, sez23, NoseInANovel, SomebodyWhoCares, Lady Syndra, Charmedgrays, and CherrySin for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	7. unrequited love is a bitch

**Chapter six**

_Unrequited love is a bitch_

_The 11__th__ century_

_Lydia kept one eye on Henrik as she bought necessities from the market for her mother. She watched him out of the corner of her eye as she shopped, to make sure he didn't go anywhere. He was the baby of the family, and there for his older siblings doted on him. _

_They were also very overprotective, especially Lydia. Kol always teased her for it. "How do you expect him to grow into a man with his elder sister smothering him with affection? I'm surprised he hasn't suffocated to death yet," he would say. Then Lydia would glare at him and Niklaus would smack him over the head for her._

"_Lydia!"_

_She jumped slightly when someone whispered her name. She looked around, but couldn't find who. "Lydia!" they repeated, and this time she saw who was trying to get her attention._

_Lydia smiled as a young man smiled at her, walking up to her side. They were hidden from prying eyes by curtains of fabric, but they still kept their voices low._

"_Rob," she said, eyes lighting up. Rob was a man around Elijah's age. He was very handsome, with black hair and eyes bluer than any blue Lydia had ever seen. It would be a lie if Lydia said she didn't fancy him, at least a little bit, and Lydia always tried to be honest with herself._

"_Come," he said, grabbing her hand and tugging her towards the forest. "My father will not be expecting me for an hour. We have time to be together."_

_She sighed and looked back towards Henrik, who was watching two villagers sharpen their swords with curiosity. "I cannot," she said with a shake of her head. "I have to watch Henrik. And I still have to buy flour and wine for my mother."_

"_Lydia," Rob sighed, grabbing both of her hands and intertwining their fingers. "We never see each other. We always have to tip toe around our families- when can we just stop all of this and just be with each other?"_

_She sighed. That was a good question. When?_

"_Alright," she said finally. "Two minutes. Then I really have to get back here and finish buying-"_

_She didn't even get to finish her sentence. Rob pulled her into the forest, and as soon as they were out of few, his lips were on hers. He kissed the words out of her mouth, and Lydia silently decided to make their two minutes together five._

"Have you ever been in love, Elena?" Lydia asked suddenly, as she studied a shirt that was actually not revealing.

Elena frowned. Her love life was a complicated subject. "Yeah," she said finally. "I am in love. Why do you ask?"

Lydia shrugged. She had been thinking about Rob, that was why. "No reason in particular," she said, running her hand over a leather jacket.

"Have you ever been in love?" Elena questioned her curiously.

She frowned. "I'm not sure," she answered, studying the daylight ring on her right hand. She was glad that Niklaus had left it on her finger when he killed her.

"How could you not know?" Elena asked her, her frown increasing.

"Love isn't an exact science, Elena. It's confusing and difficult and rather brutal if I am to be perfectly honest. It's painful, love. It makes good people do bad things and bad people do good things. It changes us, and not always into the best versions of ourselves. For as long as I can remember, people have complained about love, saying how painful and cruel it was. Yet, we still crave it. And what does that say about mankind? That we know love is wicked and unkind and sadistic, yet we still want it, are still desperate for it. It says that we're either too stupid to know better or too masochistic to care," Lydia said, finally looking up at Elena.

"I don't know if I was ever in love, but I do know the only man I ever came close to loving. Rob Jonson. He was a man in the village I grew up in, and I would have married him, had my mother not turned us into vampires."

"_Keep staring longingly at him, Dia. That's not obvious at all."_

_Lydia glared at Kol, but hastily looked away from Rob. "I don't know what you're talking about," she muttered._

_Kol rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. Are you even daring to deny that you two have been running off into the woods to snog like-"_

"_Shut up!" she hissed at him, eyes darting to Elijah and back to Kol. "If Elijah finds out, it'll be your head, Kol."_

_Lydia turned to face Rebekah. "I am never telling you anything ever again," she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest._

_Rebekah's eyes widened, as if just the thought of her big sister no longer confiding in her terrified her. "Lydia-"_

"_Relax, Lydia," Klaus said, walking up to Rebekah's side. "If you no longer tell Rebekah your secrets, how will we talk about them behind your back?"_

_She rolled her eyes. "Yes, I bet that would be a real shame, Niklaus," she said dryly._

"_It is, if you really think about it," Kol interjected. "You, Dia, are the only interesting person in the family right now. It's quite sad, really."_

_She glared at him. "Be quiet, Kol."_

"_Elijah doesn't know, if that's what you're worried about," Finn spoke up, hoping to calm down his little sister. "Neither do Mother and Father."_

_Her eyes widened. "_You _know?" She groaned. "Who else knows? Henrik?"_

_All her siblings suddenly looked awkward. "No…" Kol trailed off, clearly meaning that yes, he did._

"_This family is terrible at keeping secrets," she grumbled._

"_What secrets?"_

_All five looked up at Elijah at the same time. "None in particular, brother," Kol said, smirking slightly. "And definitely none involving Dia."_

_Elijah looked at her, frowning. "What does he mean, Lydia?"_

_Her face turned red. The last thing she wanted was Elijah finding out about her sneaking off into the woods with Rob. Her eldest brother would most likely track him down and skin him alive. Elijah was usually mild tempered and thought before he acted, but he was very, very protective of Lydia._

"_Nothing, Elijah. Kol is just being stupid," she said finally._

_Kol glared at her. "I am not stupid!"_

_She rolled her eyes. "Please, I've met horses with more brains than you," she muttered before walking off._

_Elijah still looked confused. "What? What are you all keeping from me?"_

"_Trust me, Elijah. You would rather not know," Klaus said, clasping his brother on the shoulder before walking away. "For your benefit as much as his."_

Elena kept looking more lost with each word Lydia spoke. "Your mother turned you into vampires? How?"

"Esther was a powerful witch, a very powerful witch," she said, feeling resentment building up inside of her. "She was the original witch."

"Wait, does that mean you're a witch?" Elena asked, eyes widening. But Lydia was already shaking her head before she even completely finished her sentence.

"No, I am not. You can only be a witch or a vampire, never both. Unlike werewolves, you cannot be a vampire-witch hybrid," she said. "But I wasn't a witch even when I was human. A great disappointment to my mother, I'm afraid. I was her assistant, though, basically. I knew magic just as well as any witch, though I wasn't able to use it."

Lydia knew how disappointed Esther had been, upon discovering that her daughter wasn't a witch. She saw it in her eyes every time she looked at her. Esther loved her children- loved them enough to turn them into abominations of nature- but Lydia had always felt like she had never been good enough for her mother. She wasn't a witch, therefore she was a disappointment.

"Why did she turn you into vampires?" Elena asked.

"My youngest brother Henrik was attacked and killed by werewolves one full moon," Lydia said solemnly. A thousand years had gone by and her baby brother's death still made her want to break something at the injustice of it all. He had been a child, and still his life had been taken from him. It wasn't fair. But life wasn't fair. Not even a little bit.

"My mother turned my father, my siblings, and I into vampires to keep us safe. She cast a spell, calling on the sun for life and the ancient white oak tree for immortality. Then, the night she cast the spell, Mikael laced our wine with blood and then drove his sword through our hearts."

Elena's jaw dropped, but Lydia kept talking. "There were repercussions, of course. Nature turned against us. The sun burned us, neighbors could keep us out of their houses, and the purple flowers at the base of the white oak burned and prevented compulsion. The white oak, the thing that had given us life was the only thing that could take it away. So my father and brothers burned it to ashes. Of course, that ash was what had, for all intents and purposes, killed my siblings and I.

"It was later discovered that Niklaus was from a werewolf line, meaning he was a hybrid. My mother had cheated on my father, and, because of it, he killed my brother's real father and his family- sparking the feud between vampires and werewolves- and then he ripped my mother's heart out. I believe his exact words were 'you broke my heart so I will break yours.' Niklaus watched the entire thing.

"But my mother didn't die entirely in vein. She had managed to put Klaus' curse on him before her heart was ripped out," Lydia finished, her tone business like for such a gruesome topic.

"The same curse you had helped him try to break," Elena said, and Lydia looked up at her, as if forgetting that she was there.

"Yes, I did," she said. "All my siblings, at one time or another, had offered their help to Niklaus. But then we, one by one, turned our backs on him and he daggered us."

"Why?" Elena asked. "Why did you help him?"

Her eyes shot up. Wasn't it obvious. "Because he was my brother, Elena. I loved him, I truly did. And there was a time in my life where I would have done literally anything for him, just like I would have done for the rest of my siblings."

Lydia took a deep breath, feeling sadness wear done on her. She thought she could handle talking about her family, but she couldn't. "Let's go, shall we? I don't think I'm no longer in a mood to shop.

Lydia walked out of the store before Elena could even respond.

_**~SD~**_

_A few nights after turning into a vampire, Lydia snuck out of her house to see Rob. She was a mess of emotions, but she _needed _to see him. She had to sneak past Elijah- an extremely difficult task- but it was worth it._

_Lydia found Rob waiting for her at their usual meeting place. He looked relieved to see her, and instantly pulled her in for a hug when he saw her. "Lydia," he said, "I was so worried. I did not think you would come. You should hear some of the things the others are saying about your family-"_

_But Lydia wasn't listening. Her mouth was watering at the scent of Rob's sweet blood, the sound of his beating heart. She felt her eyes darken and her fangs lengthen. Her nose pressed against the skin of his throat, and, without any real thought, she went to bite him._

_Rob jolted back and pushed her out of his arms. His eyes widened at the sight of her face. "Holy hell," he murmured, pure terror flashing in his eyes. He knew instantly that the rumors were true._

"_Rob!" Lydia exclaimed. "Please, let me explain-"_

"_No!" he shouted. "Stay away from me! Demon! Monster! Stay away from me!"_

_Her heart broke. Rob didn't want her now that she was a vampire. That heartache quickly turned to anger, that anger into rage. And that rage turned into thirst. Quicker than lightning, Lydia grabbed Rob and pinned him against a tree. Despite his screams and shouts of protest, and sunk her fangs into his neck._

_Rob thrashed, but Lydia was too strong. She gulped down his hot, sweet blood like it was wine. When she was ripped off of him, she growled at the person who dared to take her blood away. Then she caught sight of Elijah, and her face returned to normal. _She_ returned to normal._

"_Elijah," she whispered, blood covering her face. "Elijah, I didn't mean to. I-" she cut herself off._

"_I know," he soothed her, all the while using all of his control not to drink Rob's blood himself. "I know you didn't."_

"_Is he-?" she couldn't bring herself to say the words. Rob lay still on the ground, no breath falling from his lips, no heart beating in his chest._

_Elijah nodded solemnly. "Yes, he is."_

_Rob Jonson was the only man Lydia had ever come close to loving. He was also the first person she had ever killed._

Lydia leaned against the wall outside of the living room. She was shamelessly listening to Elena and Damon's conversation with her lips pressed in a firm line and her arms crossed over her chest.

"_I didn't find out anything that would help us kill Klaus," _Elena was saying. Both were unaware that Lydia was listening to their conversation.

She had been a fool, thinking for even a second that Elena had invited her on that shopping trip to do anything besides to get info. It didn't bother Lydia, only that Elena had been so sneaky about it.

"You know, Elena," Lydia said, walking into the living room with her arms crossed over her chest. "The next time you want information about my family, you don't need to pretend to be my friend to get it. I'm willingly helping you kill my brother, aren't I? Then respect me enough not to try to manipulate me."

Elena's eyes widened at the sight of her. Even Damon raised his eyebrows. "Lydia, I-"

Lydia cut her off. "It's not even worth defending, Elena. Just know for future reference that asking works even better than manipulation," she said dryly.

Elena looked at a loss for words. "O-okay," she stuttered, before leaving.

Damon watched Lydia with a newfound respect. "Do you have any alcohol?" she asked him as she pushed her hair out of her face. "Preferably the strong kind?"

Damon snorted. "All I have is the strong kind," he said, walking over to a table. He poured two glasses of bourbon and handed her one. He smirked at her. "Sure you can handle it, Dia?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lydia snorted, though her heart panged uncomfortably at Kol's nickname for her. "Please," was all she said, before taking a sip. He was right, it was strong. But Lydia could handle her liquor well.

She sat down on the couch, her glass of bourbon in her hand. Damon sat down next to her, and they sat in silence, though it wasn't necessarily uncomfortable. "Elena isn't manipulative," he said suddenly. "She doesn't use people- usually. But when pushed, she can really show her Katherine side."

Lydia raised her eyebrows, wondering why Damon felt the need to defend Elena. "You're in love with her," she whispered, eyes widening slightly.

Damon just shrugged. "And she loves my brother. Would you believe me if I told you this isn't the first time I've loved the same girl as my brother, and that she looked exactly like Elena?"

"Would you believe me if I told you that this isn't the first time I've seen two brothers love the same girl who looks exactly like Elena?" Lydia retorted with raised eyebrows.

Damon shrugged again. "Unrequited love's a bitch," he said simply.

"I'll drink to that." Lydia tossed back the rest of her drink and then stood up to refill their glasses.

Damon decided right then that, even though she was an original, Lydia was a very likeable person.

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **So, you guys might've already noticed this, but in my head, Lydia is to Elijah what Rebekah is to Klaus. They're just as close as those two. Though, maybe, their relationship is a little more healthy.

Thank you to: purpleXorchid, AudreyDarke96, stina222, sez23, LexiG, Dame-Of-The-Living-Dead, SomebodyWhoCares, Ally-Woods-rox, Lady Syndra, and MissCaityGrace for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	8. daddy issues

**Chapter seven**

_Daddy issues_

Lydia stared at her reflection in the mirror. She was no longer 15th century Lydia. She was now new and improved 21st century Lydia. Her dark brown hair was short, to her shoulder blades, and in loose curls. She wore a short dress that stopped before her knees but had long sleeves and was made entirely of white lace. She wore a black leather jacket and hurtful high heels that were hard to walk in. The thong and bra she was wearing were irritating.

Lydia had nearly had her eyes poked out when they were lined in black eyeliner. Her lashes were curled and heavy with mascara. Her face was covered in powders and creams and makeup. Her already high cheekbones stood out even more, though. Her big brown eyes looked huge.

Lydia had never been more uncomfortable in her life. But she had never been more beautiful.

The things women put themselves through to look attractive never ceased to amaze her. That hadn't changed, not even since the 11th century. She had many memories of her and Rebekah spending all day plucking and powdering and tightening each other's corsets just to be able to be seen in public. She had spent about three hours to achieve what she saw in the mirror at that moment.

It was good to know that some things never changed, no matter what the century was.

"Lydia Mikaelson, stop staring at yourself in the mirror and get your ass down here!"

Lydia looked quickly away from the mirror with an embarrassed smile. She didn't know how Damon knew what she was doing. He wasn't even on the same floor as her.

Stumbling as she walked, since she wasn't used to such high heels, Lydia walked down the stairs into the living room. Damon was waiting for her, arms crossed impatiently across his chest.

"About time, Dia. Where do you think you're going anyway? To meet the King of England?" he whined, but cut off abruptly when he saw her walk down the stairs.

"I have met a king, actually. Several of them. I even played queen, back in the early days, when ruling wasn't such a messy business. It is hard, keeping a country running, Damon. Especially one you created yourself," Lydia said, tugging at her dress, not used to how short it was.

She looked beautiful. Gorgeous. Absolutely stunning. His eyes widened slightly. But then he shook his head. Elena was beautiful, gorgeous, and stunning. Even on her worst day. He loved her. Though that was more of a curse than a blessing.

"What do you need?" Lydia asked, drawing his attention back up to her.

"Meeting," he said, remembering why he had called her down in the first place. "While you were busy prettying yourself up, Katherine's figured out a way to kill your brother. And we didn't even have to undagger her."

Lydia frowned as Damon turned his back on her and walked into the living room. "That's not all I've been doing," she called, following him. "I also learned how to make a phone call, at least, sort of. All those buttons confuse me."

Elena avoided eye contact with Lydia, as the original sat down on a couch and crossed her legs. Her eyes trained on Katherine, who was watching her, like a mouse watching a cat, waiting for it to spring. Lydia cocked her head to the side slightly. She had bigger problems to do with than Katerina Petrova, though. She would get what was coming to her one day, though.

"So," Lydia said. "What is this plan you have come up with, Katerina?"

Katherine was stiff as she stared back at the original. "It's more of an idea, actually. Just something I've heard that I thought I'd share with all of you. A man- a vampire- wants Klaus dead, has been hunting him for centuries. Klaus is afraid of him, too. I don't remember his name, though. I'm thinking that we track him down and-"

"Mikael," Lydia cut her off bluntly. "You mean Mikael. And we most certainly won't be tracking him down."

Katherine's eyes shot up. "Your father wants Klaus dead? Why would he want to kill his son?"

"My father isn't Klaus' real father. And I'd rather not get into their complicated, dysfunctional relationship at this moment. All that matters is that my father was never suited to be a father. He wasn't a good one. He was cruel and mean and abusive and terrifying. All of my siblings were scared of him, myself included," Lydia said dryly.

"Wouldn't that be more of a reason to find Mikael, if Klaus is afraid of him?" Stefan asked, eyebrows raised

But Lydia was already shaking her head. "No. We are not recruiting my father. End of discussion. Mikael is not an option," she said firmly.

Katherine narrowed her eyes, annoyed. "Just because you have daddy issues-"

Lydia was a blur before she even finished her sentence. She pinned Katherine against the wall by her throat, her eyes darkened with anger, her lip all but curled back into a snarl. "Do not give me another reason to rip your heart out, Katerina," she said slowly, deadly, reminding everybody there that she could kill them with one hand if she really wanted to.

She let Katherine go, and the doppelganger gasped for air. "We are not going to use Mikael as a weapon against my brother," she repeated firmly. "I do not trust him. I trust Niklaus more than I trust my father. I don't even know where he is."

She looked back to the four others in the room. "We'll find another way to kill Klaus, alright? Nobody in this world is truly immortal."

And with those words, Lydia turned on her heel and walked out of the room.

_**~SD~**_

Lydia sighed as she flopped down on her bed. She had spent the last four hours trying to remember a spell, any spell, that could kill her brother. But the more she spent thinking of a way to kill Klaus, the more her conviction wavered. Could she really kill Niklaus? She was still angry, very angry, at what he did. But at that point, she was more hurt than angry. And she knew better than to do anything serious when she was hurt and angry. She never thought straight when she was hurt and angry.

Lydia shook her head. No, this was the right thing. Killing Klaus was the right thing. Avenging her family was the right thing.

At least, she thought it was.

"Knock, knock."

Lydia sat up on her bed as Damon walked into her room. "How may I help you, Damon?" she asked civilly.

He rolled his eyes at her. "Doesn't it get boring, being so polite all the time?" he asked dryly.

"It wouldn't hurt you, to learn some manners, Damon," she shot back almost pleasantly, like his digs didn't affect her at all. She learned that skill from her big brothers, Elijah and Finn.

"Believe me, it probably would," he muttered, more to himself than to her.

"What do you need?" she asked, a little edgier than before. He was starting to wear out her patience.

"Why don't you want to track down your dad again?" Damon asked bluntly, with raised eyebrows.

Lydia sighed and lay back down on her bed. "I don't wish to have anything to do with him. The one good thing about becoming a vampire was being free from him. Besides, I don't trust him. He'll betray us, I know it. He has wanted Niklaus dead since as long as I can remember, and he'll stop at nothing to kill him. If we try to get him to help us, we'll regret it."

Damon didn't look convinced, though.

"Why don't you trust me?" she asked softly.

He scoffed at her. "Why would I trust the thousand year old sister of the thousand year old hybrid who has single handedly ruined the lives of people I care about?"

Lydia's stare hardened. "I have never done anything that would cause you not to trust me. Nothing. I understand that Elijah has betrayed you before, but his mistakes are his own, not mine. Besides, you'll have to trust me if we want to have any chance of killing Niklaus. You'll have to. We have to have at least trust each other a little bit."

Damon shook his head slightly. "But you're an original," he muttered finally.

Lydia's eyebrows rose slightly. "Why am I labeled untrustworthy because I am one of the first of our kind?" she asked.

Damon didn't answer, and she sighed. "_You _undaggered _me, _remember? You wanted my help, and I'm helping you. I'm also giving you advice- don't find Mikael. Don't ask for his help. I know my father. He'll rip all of our hearts out if it means getting to Niklaus. He ripped out my mother's."

Damon was silent as Lydia walked past him and towards the door. "Where are you going?" he called out.

"I need a drink," she replied, before blurring out of her room, and out of the house. All of this talk about Mikael was wearing down on her.

Katherine was right. She did have daddy issues.

_**~SD~**_

Damon walked down to the living room after his talk with Lydia. Despite her valid points, he couldn't bring himself to trust her. Though, Damon didn't really trust anybody.

"There you are. Did you manage to drag yourself away from pining after Elena for five minutes? I'm surprised."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Go away, Katherine, or I'll let Lydia rip your heart out," he threatened.

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Do you want to go on a road trip with me or not?"

He raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

Katherine smirked at him. "I did some digging and found out where Mikael is."

"And where might that be?" he asked skeptically.

"In a cemetery in charlotte. A witch desiccated him about fifteen years ago, and now we need to go wake him up," Katherine said. "So let's go. I get to drive."

Damon sighed. "I don't know if we should go get Mikael, Katherine," he said.

Ker eyebrows shot up and she smirked. "What? Because Lydia said so? Wow, you've known her for three days and you're already becoming infatuated with her- and she's not even a doppelganger. That must be a new record for you, Damon."

Damon gritted his teeth, and any hesitation he had left him. Katherine's jibes had worked. "Fine, let's go get Papa Original. But _I _get to drive."

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **this will be my last update for this story until Sunday. I'm going on vacation on Wednesday, and still have two other stories to update before then.

Thank you to: FrancyPantsFrance, KaterinaSaltzvatore, AudreyDarke96, Loki's Liz, sez23, Lady Syndra, SomebodyWhoCares, and stina222 for reviewing!

~Abby :)


	9. family ties

**Chapter eight**

_Family ties_

"What's troubling you, Sweetheart?"

Lydia was sitting at a bar somewhere north of Mystic Falls, drunk and slumped forward with her head resting on her arms. She raised her head and blinked a few times before the bartender's image became clear.

"Huh?" she sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Why would anything be troubling me?"

"Because it's not even five o'clock and you're the only drunk in my bar," he said not unkindly, as Lydia looked at her glass of scotch to find it empty.

She shrugged. "I suppose that I do have some troubles," she mumbled, running a hand through her messy hair. She probably looked like a mess right now, but the alcohol in her system prevented her from caring.

"What are they, if you don't mind me asking?" The middle aged man asked while he cleaned glasses with a rag.

"Family issues," she said with a sigh.

"Family can be a drag," he agreed, "But they're the most important thing, right?"

Lydia nodded, suddenly gaining energy as she looked at the bartender. "That's what I always thought!" she exclaimed. "Family above all. But it's not as simple as that. It's a very complicated thing, family."

"Yeah," the bartender agreed with a nod, before frowning. "Why does your family have you drinking at 4:37 in the afternoon?"

Lydia took a deep breath. "My brother Niklaus killed me and my siblings and left us to rot in coffins," she said, almost casually, before her brown eyes widened slightly. "I do not think I should've told you that," she added after a deeper thought.

The bartender's eyes widened. "Wh-what did you say?"

He took two steps back, fear radiating off of him like body heat. Lydia leaned forward and caught his gaze. "You are not afraid. Everything I'm about to say doesn't frighten you, and you will forget it as soon as I'm gone."

She needed somebody to vent to, a stranger. She needed to get her thoughts off of her chest. The bartender's face was wiped away of fear and he nodded once before returning to wiping the glasses with his dirty rag.

"You were saying?" he said.

Lydia cleared her throat and sat back down on her bar stool. "My brother daggered me and my brothers and sister, and carried around in coffins. I was undaggered, and now I'm helping two vampire brothers and two doppelgangers kill said brother. But, what if that makes me just as bad as him, if I kill him?" she said.

"What do you mean?"

"The reason I'm doing this, trying to kill Niklaus, is to avenge our family- family above all. But Niklaus is my brother, my family. If I killed him, I would be killing my family- just like he did- and that would make me just as bad as him," she explained.

"I don't think your morals are the problem," the bartender said. "I think the problem is that he's your brother and you love him, even after everything he's done."

Lydia shook her head. "You're wrong. I hate him…" But she didn't feel the burning hatred towards Klaus, like she did the night she was undaggered. It was more resigned. It was like she hated him because she should, not because she did.

She shook her head again, this time more fiercely. "No, you don't know anything! You're just a bartender!" she hissed. Then, in the blink of an eye, Lydia was gone, and the bartender forgot she was ever there to begin with.

She was drunk, and that wasn't a good look on Lydia. She stumbled as she walked in a random direction, no place to go, no friendly face she could go to. At that moment, Lydia wanted her big brother more than anything. Elijah would know what to do. He always did. He'd help her figure this out, because he always had.

Over the centuries, Lydia had heard time and time again about how alike her and Elijah were. Both moral, both honorable, both smart and honest and capable. But Lydia wasn't completely like him. She fell apart more easily, she let her emotions get the best of her. She let herself get drunk and stumble around a still unfamiliar world.

And that's why she needed her big brother. To make sure she never came undone like she was right now.

There was so much Lydia had to do. She had to undagger her siblings, _kill _Niklaus, and make sure no one ever, ever brought Mikael out of the hole in the ground he crawled into.

If there was one person on the planet she hated more than her brother, it was her father.

Lydia suddenly plopped herself down on the curb and pulled out the cellphone Damon had given her. She kind of knew how to use it, and being drunk wasn't going to help her skills at all. She had to call Damon to come pick her up in one of those fancy carriages he called a "car." Hopefully he'd do it with minimal complaining.

She waited while the phone rang in her ear. She hoped she did it right, and that she wasn't calling the same number that spoke angry Russian at her, like last time.

"_Lydia? What do you want?"_

Lydia allowed one smug smile at calling Damon correctly, before she said, "Can you come get me, Damon? I'm in no condition to get home by myself. And I need more scotch."

"_Uh, I'm sort of out of town, Dia." _

Lydia frowned. "Out of town? What do you mean?"

"_Katherine and I are taking a trip to a witch in Atlanta that we think may know of a way to kill Klaus," _Damon lied. He was lucky Lydia was drunk, or else she would've saw through his lie like it was a window.

"Oh." Lydia's frown deepened. She didn't even know what "Atlanta" was. "How am I supposed to get back to the boarding house?" she asked, more concerned with that than with what Damon was doing.

"_It's a lovely day for a walk," _Damon said dryly.

"Damon-"

"_Uh oh, we're going through a tunnel. I'm gonna lose you-" _

The line went dead and Lydia sighed.

How was she going to get home now?

_**~SD~**_

Damon hung up on Lydia and set his phone down. "Did she really buy that?" Katherine asked from the passenger seat, eyebrows raised.

He shrugged. "She was drunk," he said simply.

"How long until we're there?" Katherine asked impatiently.

"About another hour or so, and we'll be in Charlotte," he answered.

Damon couldn't help the sinking feeling in his stomach. He had a bad feeling about awakening Mikael. Lydia had done nothing not to have them trust her, and she really seemed to hate Mikael, to not trust her father.

But it was too late now. He and Katherine were in too deep.

But Mikael had to know of a way to kill his stepson. This plan _had _to work.

They were all screwed if it didn't.

_**~SD~**_

Two hours later, Lydia was standing outside of Klaus' mansion, even drunker than before. She had a bottle of whiskey in her hand as she paced angrily. She decided that she liked this century's liquor better than the other centuries she had lived in. It was much stronger, and tasted better.

She ran a hand through her messy curls and stopped walking. She glared at the mansion, as if it had daggered her and her siblings. To her right were the bodies of two hybrids she had killed with a flick of her wrist.

"Do you like the house, Lydia? It was meant for all of us, you know."

Lydia glared at Klaus. "I hate you, you know," she spat. "I hate you with every fiber of my being."

Klaus remained silent as she began pacing again. "I hate you for everything you've done. And I have every right to hate you, too. I just hate you, Niklaus. I _loathe _you."

"Is that why you're here?" he asked his older sister with a raised eyebrow. "To let me know how much you hate me? Well, I hate to tell you that your time was wasted, Lydia, but it was. I understood how much you hated me when you broke my jaw. Now all you've succeeded to do was make a scene."

Lydia glowered and threw her bottle at Klaus. He ducked and it flew past him and broke a window. It was Klaus' turn to glower. "I just finished renovating this place, you know," he growled.

Lydia rolled her eyes at him. "This place is for us, you say?" she asked suddenly, gesturing to the mansion behind them. "Why would you build a house for a family you don't have?"

Klaus growled. "Are you _drunk, _Lydia?" he asked, smelling the alcohol on his sister and noticing her general unsteadiness.

She shrugged. "What if I am? What's it to you?"

He just rolled his eyes. He didn't say anything, but his thoughts rang loud and clear. _You're pathetic, Lydia._

The truly sad part was that he was right. She was pathetic. And pitiful. And not Lydia her entire family and come to know and love and mock and tolerate. This drunk Lydia in front of Klaus wasn't his big sister that had taken the blame countless times for him, the Lydia who had been punished by Mikael instead of him. That was why he thought her pathetic and petty.

"_I'm not pathetic!" _she hissed, stalking towards him. She raised her hand to slap him,. but he caught it effortlessly.

"Right now, you are," he said letting go of her hand and sending Lydia back three steps. "Go home, sister."

Lydia glared, but started taking steps back. Even drunk, she had to admit that that was the best idea.

As she started to walk away, Lydia stopped suddenly. "You ruined us, Niklaus," she called back to her brother. "You ruined our family."

With one last look filled with disdain, Lydia blurred away and Klaus was left to clean up her mess.

_**~SD~**_

Lydia took a shower to help herself sober up. When she got out of the shower she felt like trash, and wanted nothing more than to curl up in her bed and dream about the 11th century- days where her father was her only fear, her only source of terror, but her family had never been closer.

She changed into a pair of comfortable pajama bottoms and a tank top, and threw her wet hair up. She walked downstairs to get something to drink- something non-alcoholic- when she found Damon sitting in the living room. He looked almost guilty, but if you blinked he looked like the same arrogant Damon.

"You look cute in your PJs," he said casually as Lydia made to walk past him.

"How'd that witch in Atlantis play out?" she asked, stopping and leaning against a chair.

"It's Atlanta," he corrected her. Lydia just shrugged.

"Same thing," she said.

"No, it's really not."

"Never mind then. What happened with the witch?" she asked impatiently.

"Yeah, that's the thing, Dia…" Damon trailed off, wishing that he didn't have to be the one to tell her.

Lydia frowned. "What happened, Damon? What did you do?"

"Lydia."

Her eyes widened, her stomach sunk. No. _No. _she was supposed to be free of him. For good. Forever.

Slowly, Lydia turned around to face the man who had just walked into the room. She regarded him coldly as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Mikael."

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **I am soooooooo sorry for the lack of update. I've had a serious case of writer's block and lack of inspiration for all of my stories.

I was trying to get two things across in this chapter. One, Lydia isn't like Elijah completely. I'm sure you've noticed their similarities, but Lydia has a self-destructive streak that her brother doesn't. You'll see more of that in the future of this story.

Two, Lydia's growing hesitation to kill Klaus. The reason she even agreed to was because Lydia is very, very loyal. But that's the thing, she's so _loyal. _Family means a lot to Lydia, and Klaus had been her family for a very long time. Will she be able to kill her brother? That's the biggest question in this story.

Thank you to: I'm Plotting Something Evil, stina222, sez23, Lourdes08, AudreyDarke96, Guest, SomebodyWhoCares, and Lady Syndra for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	10. Father and Child

**Chapter nine**

_Father and child_

Lydia couldn't believe it. She told them not to do it. She told them that waking Mikael would be a huge mistake, that he was worse than Niklaus. They didn't listen. She thought for a second that they had trusted her, but clearly they didn't.

She barely spared Damon a look of disgust before turning her back on Mikael and walking briskly towards the nearest doorway. She needed out of this house. Being anywhere near her father made her skin crawl.

"Lydia, you were never the one I wanted to kill," Mikael said to her suddenly, causing her to stop before she reached the doorway. "Nor were Elijah or Kol or Finn or Rebekah. I never wanted to kill any of you."

Lydia scoffed. "Is that supposed to make you a better father? So you didn't want to kill your birth children- that makes up for everything else," she said sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest.

Mikael glowered at her. "Your mother and I did what we had to do to keep you all safe and alive-"

"-And stronger and better than werewolves. You turned us into the most dangerous predators on the planet because of your pride, Mikael, nothing else. Because you couldn't stand having rabid dogs make you look weak. That's why you turned us into vampires, not to 'protect' us," Lydia hissed, eyes narrowed. She had forgotten that Damon was still in the room, awkwardly caught in the father daughter fight.

"Lydia-" Mikael growled, eyes darkening as he approached his eldest daughter.

"And it doesn't even matter that you only wanted to kill Niklaus," she continued. "I still spent almost five hundred years of my life helping him and Rebekah run, making sure you were never too close to them, running with them too at some points. So you might as well have planned to kill me along with him."

With each word Lydia spoke, Mikael just kept getting angrier. "That was your mistake," he told her, his voice cold. "You were never in any danger."

"He was my brother, Mikael!" she exclaimed loudly, sounding almost exasperated. "If you wanted him dead, you would have had to go through me."

Silence followed her outburst. Damon looked a little surprise, Mikael looked like he couldn't believe his daughter. Lydia hadn't sounded like a girl who wanted Klaus dead. She sounded like an older sister who was protective of her brother.

"He killed your mother, Lydia," he said slowly, teeth gritted.

Lydia's eyes widened. "What?" she asked. "No, he didn't. You did. You killed Esther. You ripped her heart out. Niklaus saw-" she cut herself off.

It had been a lie. And suddenly everything made sense. When Esther had put Niklaus' hybrid curse on him, he had been so angry he killed their mother. Then he blamed it on Mikael so that they wouldn't leave him- especially Rebekah, who had been closest and even the most important to Niklaus, but who had loved their mother dearly. And that was really why Mikael wanted Niklaus dead- because he killed Esther.

"He killed your mother. He daggered all of you. Remember that, Lydia. Niklaus needs to die. And I _will _kill him," Mikael told her. Then he walked out of the room, leaving Lydia in a stunned silence.

"Lydia-" Damon started to say, breaking the awkward silence. The look she gave him was filled with so much disdain it made it him pause and raise his eyebrows.

"Look, you have daddy issues. Fine. Go to a strip club, you'll find dozens of girls with the same issues. But Mikael isn't just our best option to kill Klaus, he is our _only _option. So you'll just have to get over it for a day, then your brother will be dead, we'll live in a Klaus-free world, you'll get your sibling back, and you'll never have to see your father again," Damon said.

Lydia shook her head. "That's not the point, Damon," she told him, in no mood to argue with him. Not after the revelation of her mother's death.

"Really, then what is? Because I thought killing Klaus for everything he's done to all of us was the point," Damon snapped.

"No, the point is that none of you trust me. I'm sorry Elijah betrayed you. Really, it's not like him. But I'm _not _my brother. I have given you no reason not to trust me. And, really, if you trust _Mikael _more than me, then I really don't see why I'm even still here," Lydia said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I don't trust Mikael, Lydia," he said, his eyes flashing with anger. "But I trust that he wants Klaus dead more than you do."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lydia narrowed her eyes at him.

"Two minutes ago, you didn't sound like somebody who wants Klaus dead. You sounded like an overprotective sister. Do you even want to kill him anymore? Because if not, we have a serious problem, Lydia," Damon told her.

"_Of Course _I want Niklaus dead," she hissed. "He daggered me. He daggered my brothers and sister. He _killed _my mother. I have every right to want to shove a dagger in his heart."

"Yeah, but just because you have every right to hate him, to want to kill him, doesn't mean you do," he said. "And I don't think you do."

"Then you don't know me very well, Damon," she snapped back. "Because I made a promise to you and Stefan and Elena and even that little wench Katarina that I would help you kill my brother. And I don't break my promises."

Lydia turned around, and in a blur she was gone. Damon sighed and ran a hand over his face.

The original was definitely going to be a problem, he could already tell.

_**~SD~**_

Lydia broke everything in her room.

She broke the mirror, the dresser, the old chair that most likely cost a small fortune. She shattered the windows using the hundred dollar high heels she had gotten a few days earlier. She ripped pillows open, causing feathers to float in the air like snow.

And then, in the midst of the disaster she had created, tears started rolling down her cheeks silently.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Her life wasn't supposed to be like this. She shouldn't hate Niklaus, she shouldn't feel so alone. In all honesty, she should've been dead, long dead. Her body should've been in the ground, her flesh rotted away, her bones turned to dust.

Yet, here Lydia Mikaelson was, throwing a tantrum and crying less for her dead mother and more for herself.

Lydia had loved Esther dearly. She did. Esther had been her mother and she loved her like a daughter should love the woman who had given her life. She just resented her. A lot. Lydia resented Esther for not protecting her children from their father. She resented her on Niklaus' behalf. But mostly, Lydia resented Esther because her mother resented her.

Lydia wasn't a witch. She always noticed the disappointment in her mother's eyes whenever she was helping her with a spell or a potion, and Esther remembered that Lydia had no real magic of her own.

Still, some of her tears were for her mother. Because discovering that Klaus had, in fact, killed her did make Lydia relive the pain she had first felt at her mother's passing. Though her pain would never compare to Rebekah's. she had lost count of the number of nights she had spent with her arms around her sister, trying to sooth her as Rebekah cried herself to sleep.

But mostly, Lydia cried for herself. Because she was so utterly alone. Because the group of people she had tried to help went behind her back to her horrid excuse for a father. But mostly because she was starting to think Damon was right.

Lydia had every single goddamn right to loathe Niklaus. But she was starting to think that she didn't.

And that just made her hate her brother even more.

Lydia took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. She'd be damned if she'd let anyone in the house know she'd been crying selfish tears. Then she looked in the cracked mirror, to make sure she looked decent. She had changed out of her pajamas. Lydia was never going to relax with Mikael being anywhere near her.

When she walked downstairs, the only person she could find was Stefan. He was sitting in the living room, a glass of some strong alcohol in his hand. Lydia crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the wall as she studied the youngest Salvatore brother.

"Where is Mikael?" she asked after a few seconds.

Stefan acted as if he had known she had been there all along. He probably had. "Going to get his secret weapon to kill Klaus. Then he's going to go kill your brother. That's the best part of this plan- we don't even need to be there when Klaus dies. Though your father promised to show us his body after."

Lydia gritted her teeth. She hated it when people referred to Mikael as "her father." To Lydia, she didn't have a father. Elijah had been more of a father than Mikael ever had. He taught her everything she ever needed to know. He taught her how to defend herself. He taught her how to survive. Elijah had taught all their siblings everything Mikael couldn't be bothered to do.

"Don't screw it up, Lydia." Stefan was suddenly in front of her. "You hate your father. Fine. But don't let it screw up the plan. He's going to kill Klaus for us. That's what we all want, remember?"

Lydia's nose wrinkled as she pushed off the wall and walked past Stefan, fighting the urge to throw him into a wall. "Where are you going?" he asked her, as she walked towards the door.

"On a walk," she answered. She needed to clear her thoughts desperately. "But don't pop the celebratory 'Klaus is dead' champagne without me," she added sarcastically, before walking out of the boarding house and slamming the door behind her.

Lydia wasn't sure where she was going. She just needed to walk, to sort out her thoughts. She needed to make herself okay with Klaus dying. It would mean getting Elijah and Rebekah and Kol and Finn back. That's what she wanted. She wanted her family. She wanted to stop feeling so alone.

She found herself in some familiar woods. Lydia frowned as she pushed past branches, the land seeming familiar even after a thousand years. Then she smiled, because the woods she had spent her childhood in, grew up in, gave her a sense of peace she so desperately needed.

Lydia could feel the memories flash under her eyelids as she walked slowly through the woods, touching every tree that was within her reach. She passed the very spot she had her first kiss at. She remembered whispering about it to Rebekah in the dead of the night, praying that Elijah wouldn't hear her. She pressed her fingers against her lips. She couldn't even remember the human's name. She knew that it hadn't been a very good kiss, and he had expected a lot more from her after, but it had been very important to her at the time. It had made her feel like a woman, something she had craved once long ago.

She walked past the spot Kol had broken his arm when he was nine, by horse playing with Niklaus. Mikael had punished Niklaus severely for that, she remembered. Just like he had whenever something went even slightly wrong. Even if Klaus hadn't been involved in it, he somehow got blamed for it.

Lydia stopped walking, frowning as she thought. She realized that the amount of hatred she felt towards Mikael for everything he had done was nowhere near the amount of fierce _loathing _ Niklaus felt. Mikael had tormented him, she realized. He had beaten him and scolded him and made his life a living hell. Lydia had gotten off easy compared to Klaus. All of them had.

Lydia liked to think that she knew her siblings better than anyone. She knew that Rebekah had terrible fears of being alone. She knew that Kol thought he broke everything he touched, because Mikael had told him so once. She knew Finn hated himself for what he was. She knew that Elijah felt responsible for all of them, because he was the eldest. And that responsibility was a very heavy weight on his shoulders.

And she also knew that Niklaus had the worst case of daddy issues out of all of the Mikaelson siblings. And that was a big part of why Klaus was the way he was. It didn't make any of the bad he had done okay, but it made Lydia understand why he had done them.

It also made her realize that she couldn't let Mikael kill her brother.

In a flash, Lydia was out of the woods, running towards Niklaus' mansion as fast as she possibly could. She had to warn Klaus of what Mikael planned to do. And then, together, they could come up with a plan to get rid of Mikael once and for all.

But when Lydia made it to the mansion, saw the piles of dead hybrids and the front door thrown open, she realized she was too late.

Lydia walked carefully into the mansion, listening for any sounds of fighting. She prayed that Klaus was still alive, but there was no knowing for sure if he was. Then she turned a corner, and saw Mikael pinning Klaus to a wall by his neck, a stake made of white oak- the only thing that could kill them permanently- raised in his hand, aimed for his heart.

Klaus managed to hit the stake out of Mikael's hand, and it went skidding across the floor, landing at Lydia's feet. She looked down at the weapon, eyes widening slightly as she picked it up.

"Lydia," Mikael said. "Give that to me."

He hadn't released his hold on Klaus, but both of their attention was focused on Lydia. Her fingers curled around the weapon, knowing what she should do with it and what she wanted to do with it were two different things.

She met her brother's eyes, and what he saw in Lydia's brown ones made Klaus raise his eyebrows slightly. Because he liked to think that he knew Lydia too. And he knew that she would never pass up the chance to kill Mikael.

It was like they were having a silent conversation in the length of a second. Lydia nodded slightly, more to herself than to Klaus. Then they both played out their parts.

Lydia blurred over to Mikael at the same time Klaus broke free. He picked up the stake Lydia had let fall from her fingers before it hit the ground. Then Lydia reached Mikael and pulled his arms behind his back, not letting him escape.

"What- _Lydia," _Mikael growled at his daughter. Then Klaus shoved the white oak stake into his heart.

Lydia pulled away from Mikael and let his body fall to the ground. She stood next to her brother and together they watched Mikael die. His face turned gray, the light left his eyes. And then the stake burst into flames, burning Mikael's body along with it.

Lydia and Klaus stood in complete silence as they watched Mikael burn. She didn't even realize she was smiling until she felt herself shaking slightly with insane laughter. Mikael was _dead. _Her father was _dead. _The only weapon that could kill Klaus was _gone._

Damon was definitely not going to be very happy with her.

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **thank you to: Shannon The Original, I'm Plotting Something Evil, MissAlyssaCullen, 5alvatore, stina222, AudreyDarke96, sez23, winxgirl1997, cyn4675, Beckah Salvatore-Winchester, tvdlover87654, Samantha meyers, Ann4ever17, SomebodyWhoCares, Lourdes08, MissCaityGrace, and Lady Syndra for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	11. fixing what has been broken

**Chapter ten**

_Fixing what has been broken_

Lydia wasn't sure what time it was. All she knew was that she wasn't tired. She was sure the adrenaline rushing through her veins would keep her up for a couple centuries or so.

Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Mikael burning behind her eyelids. And then she felt her lips curl into a smile. It was a twisted and sick and anyone who witnessed the smile as she played her father's death over and over again in her head would think her to be mad.

But Lydia didn't care. She was free. After a thousand years, she was finally free of her father.

And that sweet feeling curled around her like a snake. Mikael was out of her life for good, and she took pride in knowing that she was part of the reason why.

When she looked at Niklaus, the moon her only source of light, she noticed the same twisted smile identical to hers on his lips. She had almost forgotten that whatever she had had to endure from Mikael, Niklaus had to endure things a thousand times worse.

Whatever pleasure Lydia took from Mikael's death, Niklaus felt euphoria a thousand times stronger.

She had stayed with her brother, even after Mikael was nothing more than a pile of dust. They both just stood in the dark, empty house and stared at what was once their father. No words were exchanged between them, and they still haven't spoken to each other.

There were so many questions that were floating in the silenced air between the two of them, but they went unasked. Why had Lydia stopped Mikael from killing Niklaus? Why had she helped Niklaus kill their father?

Why was she still with her brother, even though the death of Mikael had happened hours ago?

She had helped Niklaus clean up his mansion, mostly because she had no wish to go back to the boarding house. She knew that they were probably pouring celebratory glasses of champagne, toasting to Niklaus' demise. They she would have to go and tell them that her brother was, indeed, not dead.

And that she was the reason he wasn't.

No, Lydia was not looking forward to that conversation.

Instead she stayed and helped Niklaus drag his dead hybrids into the forest and burn their bodies into ashes. It had taken a few hours, but after the fire had burned out and all that was left was a large pile of ashes, Niklaus went to retrieve Mikael's ashes.

They had both stared at the ashes for quite some time. Lydia was torn between keeping them as a memento of her freedom and dumping them in the dirtiest, ugliest, most decayed place she could find, some place she would never return to, ever.

Eventually, she and Klaus silently agreed to let the wind take their father's ashes to the deepest parts of hell, where Mikael was sure to be burning. Even after they were gone, Lydia stared after the last bits of her father. All she could see for the following ten minutes was Mikael's death played in a loop.

Now, around three in the morning, Lydia and Klaus stood in the same spot they had rid themselves of Mikael's ashes. The only sound was the occasional rustle of the wind, blowing against tree branches.

"Why?"

It was the first words Niklaus had spoken to his sister, ever since her drunken debacle with him, the previous day. He didn't look at her when he spoke the one word, but that was all he needed to say. Just three letters was enough to convey all the questions he wanted- no, needed- Lydia to answer.

And since Lydia didn't know the answer to most of those questions, she just shrugged.

"_Lydia," _Klaus growled, turning to his older sister in annoyance. She raised an eyebrow at him in response.

"What do you want me to say, Niklaus? Hmm?" She countered, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I want you to explain why, sister. Why did you stop Mikael?" He asked her, agitation clear in his voice.

"Well, to stop him from killing you, of course," she said sarcastically, because being snarky towards her brother was easier than admitting that, after everything, she still cared for him like she used to, all those years again when life was much simpler.

Klaus' eyes darkened in anger, and it was just then that Lydia realized just how easy it was to get her brother to snap. He truly did have werewolf anger. That paired with his impulse was a lethal combination, the same combination that landed her and her siblings in those coffins. It was the same combination that killed their mother.

Lydia sighed and ran her hand over her face. "I should hate you," she told him bluntly, causing Klaus to stop in his place. "I should loathe every fiber of your being. Not only should I have let Mikael kill you, I should have helped him kill you, and I should have enjoyed every second of it."

"But you didn't," Klaus said slowly, slight confusion edging its way into the contours of his face.

"But I didn't," Lydia agreed, "Because I couldn't."

_Why not? _Klaus didn't speak it, but the question was still there, as obvious as the sky is blue.

"You're my brother, Niklaus. You have been for a thousand years and you will be for a thousand years. No matter what you do, that will never change. And that means something to me. Family has always meant something to me. And, no matter how much I should have, I couldn't just turn on my beliefs like that," she said, heaving a heavy sigh.

Her brown eyes flickered back up to Klaus' blue ones. "I wanted to hate you _so much," _she whispered. "But it just isn't in me."

Klaus looked away from Lydia then, not knowing what to think. He had to admit, Lydia had every right to hate him. But Lydia was the loyal one. Hating her family- no matter what they had done to her- was like a penguin trying to fly. It just wasn't going to happen.

They fell into silence again. Lydia looked up at the moon, but a thin crescent in the sky. Though they weren't talking, Klaus and Lydia were both thinking the same thing.

Where did they go from here?

Lydia had admitted to not being able to hate him, after saving his life. But there was too much between them, too much bad blood, for their relationship to go back to how it was a thousand years ago.

And there was still the matter of their siblings in their coffins.

Lydia sighed internally. Who knew her little decision of sparing Niklaus' life would result in complicated consequences for her? If knowing this, would she still make the same decision?

Lydia hated to admit that the answer was yes. She wasn't selfish enough to let Niklaus die just so her life wouldn't become a tiny bit more complicated.

She ran her hands through her messy curls. She looked over her shoulder, the lights of her brother's house just visible through the thick trees. She thought back to her previous encounters with Niklaus in this century. He had built that house for them, for his family.

And then a revelation hit Lydia hard. Niklaus wanted a family, their family. He just didn't know how to get them back after he had pushed all of them so far away.

"Just because I can't hate you doesn't mean I forgive you, you know," Lydia told him suddenly, not bothering to look at her brother.

"I know," he answered, his gaze, and thoughts, elsewhere.

"I don't know if I can ever truly forgive you, Niklaus," she continued.

"I know."

She finally looked at her brother, not with anger, but with honesty. Her eyes weren't narrowed in anger, but wide with wisdom an older sister would have. "If you want us to be a family, Niklaus," she started, "You need to earn our trust back. You need to try. You need to be the brother I would I have died for all those centuries ago."

Lydia turned her back on Klaus, and started to walk away. "But firstly," she said before she walked away. "You need to undagger the rest of our family."

And then, in a flash, Lydia was gone.

_**~SD~**_

It was around four in the morning when Lydia trudged into the boarding house. She wasn't tired, but she did want to take a relaxing bath, with those lovely scented candles se had come to love. She also wanted to replay her father's death over in her head a couple hundred more times.

"About time you're home, Dia. Don't you know it's past your curfew? You had me worried sick."

Lydia flinched as the bright light from the lamp filled the room. Damon looked pointedly at her from his spot at his chair, a glass of bourbon in his hand. From the smell that was radiating off of him, it wasn't his first glass of the night.

"I was out, Damon," she replied easily. "I was just trying to get used to this strange new world."

"You were out on the same night your dad was trying to kill your brother?" Damon asked, looking at her skeptically.

"But a mere coincidence, I'd say," she replied, edging her way towards the stairs.

In a flash, Damon was in front of her. "What did you do, Lydia?" he asked seriously, his blue eyes empty of any humor.

"Nothing," she lied, standing her ground. She was a good liar, if her 500 years of life experience was any proof.

Damon narrowed his eyes at the original. "Don't lie to me Dia," he said.

She shook her head. "I'm not lying, Damon," she said, not even thinking twice about her lying.

"Really, so then you wouldn't happen to know why we haven't heard from Mikael in hours?" Damon countered.

Lydia took three steps away from Damon and shrugged. "Maybe he left town," she offered.

"He left town," Damon repeated, not believing Lydia for a second.

She nodded, starting towards the stairs once again.

"You smell like Klaus, Lydia."

That stopped her cold. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could talk herself out of this. Lydia had always been particularly gifted at smooth talking.

"Fine, the truth is I wanted to see Mikael kill Niklaus for myself, but when I got to my brother's house, I witnessed Klaus killing Mikael with his own weapon. It was too late to save him," she told him a partial truth. "My father is dead, Damon."

The curses were flying out of Damon's mouth before Lydia could blink. "Damn it," he cursed angrily.

Lydia didn't seem too troubled about Mikael's death though, he noted. In fact, she seemed happy, if in a twisted way.

"If you don't mind, I'm going to go to my room now," she said, walking up the stairs. This time, Damon didn't stop her.

As Damon watched Lydia disappear down the hallway, he knew that Mikael's death wasn't their only problem.

Where Lydia's loyalty lay was to be called into question. Damon seriously doubted just how much the original vampire wanted her brother dead.

He needed to figure out a way to sway her back onto their side.

_**~SD~**_

"_Damon, do you have any idea what time it is?"_

Katherine sounded like she had just woken up when she answered the phone. But he was more focused on his plan to keep Lydia on team "Kill Klaus."

"How difficult was it to steal Lydia?" he asked abruptly, not caring to elaborate.

"_Very difficult, why are you asking?" _Katherine asked, sounding confused and curious at the same time.

"Because I need you to steal another coffin for me."

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **I am so sorry for not updating guys. But just know that I would never give up on any of my stories. I'm not that type of author.

Lydia is portrayed by Crystal Reed. She's the girl in the cover picture.

Thank you to: Foreversilenced92, RedestBlood, sPaRkzZz, Ergelina, .Executioner, Lourdes08, purpleXorchid, Lady Syndra, Rebekah, SomebodyWhoCares, AudreyDarke96, and Ann4ever17 for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	12. surprise

**Chapter eleven**

_Surprise _

_1235_

_Europe_

_Lydia ran her hands through her dark hair, bored out of her mind. She had no idea what hour it was, only that it was late into the night. She wasn't tired enough to try to fall asleep, though. _

_She thought about what her siblings were doing. Elijah was probably learning some new language she had never even heard of. Kol and Klaus must have been out terrorizing a nearby village. Her dear Rebekah was most likely having her way with the young lord of the castle they had compelled themselves into. _

_She tried not to think about Finn, who had been daggered for almost a century. It was easier when she didn't. They never spoke of him, and only thought about him in the dead of night, when there was nothing else to think of._

_Lydia stood up and stretched. She finally decided that she would have Elijah teach her a few words of the language he was teaching himself. Then her bedroom door burst open._

"_Lady Lydia," a young man said breathlessly, as if he had sprinted to her chambers. "He's here. Mikael is in the village."_

_Her brown eyes widened, before Lydia cursed. They had ten minutes at the most until Mikael was at the castle. And she had no idea where Niklaus or Kol were. _

_Her night had definitely gotten more interesting._

"_Hold him off as long as possible," she said briskly, knowing full well that Mikael would kill anyone who gotten in his way. She couldn't bring herself to care, though. Her family would always trump everyone else. _

_Lydia pushed past the man and, in a blur, appeared in front of Elijah's door. She didn't even think to pack away her belongings. There was no time, and she could easily replace the things she would be leaving behind._

"_Mikael is here," Lydia announced bluntly, pushing into the room without knocking. "We need to leave. Now."_

_Elijah's eyes went to hers in a second. His face was hardened with the seriousness of the situation. "Kol and Niklaus are in the village," he said, getting out of the chair he had been sitting in. "You find them and I will get Rebekah. We will meet you three at the outskirts in fifteen minutes."_

_Lydia nodded. This hadn't been the first time they had had to run from Mikael, and it wouldn't be the last. They managed to stay in one place for three weeks at the most, before Mikael had found them and they had to leave again. Lydia had long since grown tired of constantly running from her father._

_Lydia ran through the village, eyes scanning for any sign of her brothers. She was worried that Mikael had gotten to them first, more importantly to Niklaus. He was the one Mikael wanted dead, but they all knew he wouldn't mind taking the rest of his children out to get to Klaus._

"_Dia! Have you decided to join Nik and me after all?"_

_Lydia whirled around to see a drunken Kol stumbling towards her, his white shirt covered with blood. He paused when he noticed his sister's humorless expression._

"_Where is Niklaus, Kol?" she demanded, brown eyes always scanning for Mikael, in case he was lurking in a dark corner._

_Kol shrugged. "I lost track of him about ten minutes ago. Why? What happened, Dia?" _

_She didn't bother to answer his question. "We need to find Niklaus now, Kol," she said seriously, making to grab her brother's arm. _

_Kol pulled out of Lydia's reach. "What happened, Lydia?" he repeated, this time without any traces of humor in his voice._

_She sighed. "Mikael is here, Kol. We need to find Klaus and we need to leave. Now."_

_Kol eyes widened. "How did he find us so quickly?"_

_Lydia shook her head. "I am not sure, but we need to get to our brother before our father does."_

_Kol nodded in agreement. "I believe he is back at the pub," he said, jerking his head to the left._

_Lydia blurred to pub without another word, Kol right on her heels. When they got there, they were met with a surprising yet horrifying sight._

_The small hut was engulfed in flames, and people were running away from it, screaming. Lydia's eyes widened, and in the two seconds she forgot that fire couldn't kill them like it could other vampires, she felt the heavy weight of loss break her heart. She shook her head slightly, eyes wide, refusing to believe that Klaus was dead._

"_Niklaus," she breathed, eyes stuck on the reddish orange flames._

"_Yes, sister?"_

_Both Kol and Lydia's heads snapped in the direction of their brother's voice. Lydia let out a sigh of relief, and she barely heard Kol exhale one too. She suddenly felt foolish for thinking Klaus to be dead in the first place. It took a lot more than a bar on fire to kill them._

_Lydia took a step towards her younger brother. "We need to leave, Niklaus," she said firmly to him. "Mikael his here."_

"_I know," he replied. Then Klaus shifted his shirt to reveal the bloody hole in his chest, missing his heart by a sixteenth of an inch. It was obvious that it had been made by a stake, and the stake had been wielded by their father. _

"_I staked him," he replied in a business-like tone. "We have an hour to get as far away as possible before he awakes."_

_Lydia nodded in understanding. "Then let us not waste it," she replied. "Elijah and Rebekah are waiting for us."_

_Her brothers disappeared in a second, but Lydia paused. She stared at the flames, burning the pub and killing a dozen of innocent villagers. How long would they have to run from Mikael? How long would this last?_

_Lydia knew that she couldn't get out, she couldn't leave. Finn had tried to leave, and now he was rotting in a box god knows where._

_She shook her head slightly to clear the thoughts of leaving her family away. Then she ran after her brothers without a second thought._

Lydia flipped through the old book in her hands. She had absolutely no idea what it was about, but thinking of books made her think of Elijah, and that was a calming thought in itself. Plus she always loved the smell of books, the mix of paper and leather and a hint of dust had always helped her focus.

She was stuck at a crossroad. She and Niklaus were slowly fixing their relationship, but she was still stuck in a promise she had made to help Stefan, Elena, Damon, and Katerina help kill him. She was starting to think that she would have to break that promise.

Then there was the small fact that Niklaus had their entire family in coffins. If she knew where they were, she would undagger them herself, but, unfortunately, she didn't. And she also knew that if she wanted even the slightest chance of having her family be a real family, Klaus had to undagger them. He had to make the conscious decision to do it without Lydia trying to extort him, no matter how badly she wanted them back.

Lydia shut the book with a sigh. She found herself wanting to go to her brother, but knew that Damon was already suspicious of her. The more she saw Niklaus, the more suspicious of her Damon would grow. And Lydia didn't need that on her plate as well.

With each passing day, Lydia found herself craving her family more and more. She yearned for Elijah, who always held everything together when she couldn't, and Niklaus, who would just sit in one place and paint for hours. Lydia had always liked to watch him paint, as strange as it sounded. And her brother would always shoo her away and say that she was distracting him.

She missed Rebekah, her baby sister who knew Lydia's deepest, darkest secrets like they were her own. She even missed Kol, who was loud and obnoxious and a pain in the arse, but had his heart in the right place- sometimes.

And Lydia's heart grew heavy at the thought of Finn. He had gotten the short stick out of all of them. She couldn't help but think every day, that if she had done something different, maybe Finn wouldn't of had a death wish and be stuck in a coffin for nine hundred years.

Lydia missed her family more than anything. And she wanted them back.

_**~SD~**_

"Are you sure you want me to do this, Damon?"

Katherine stood in front of Damon, her arms crossed over her chest. Damon had a glass of bourbon in one hand and ran the other through his dark hair.

"We have to, Katherine," he said. "We need to make sure Lydia doesn't join her brother's side."

"I just don't think it's smart, alright?" she said. "It's gonna come back to bite us in the ass if we undagger him."

"You're only saying that because he wants your head on a stick," Damon argued. "Besides, it's gonna come back to bite us in the ass if we don't undagger him."

Katherine sighed. "Fine, I'll do it. But I'm leaving as soon as I deliver the coffin to you. I'm not gonna stick around to watch your stupid plan blow up in your face."

Damon just rolled his eyes. "Undaggering Lydia was originally your plan, Katherine," he reminded her.

"Yeah, but it wasn't supposed to escalate to this," she argued, before making her way to the door. "I'll have it in a few hours. Keep your phone on, in case the plan takes a turn for the worst."

"Fine," he said, but Katherine was already gone.

Damon sighed and took a long sip of his drink. He really hoped that Katherine was wrong. They couldn't afford to have another plan blow up in their face.

_**~SD~**_

Whenever Lydia was missing her family, she found herself going to the one place where it all started. It was starting to become a habit.

Even after a thousand years had passed, Lydia still knew the exact location where her house had once stood. It was now just one giant birch tree, so tall it seemed to touch the sky. She let her fingers trail the bark as she circled the tree, as if it could provide her with memories of better times.

"I see you were feeling sentimental too today."

She didn't turn to look at her brother as Niklaus walked to her side.

She couldn't help but scoff. "Please, you don't have a sentimental bone in your body, brother," she said dismissively.

Klaus placed a hand over his heart, as if her words had physically harmed him. "Now that's just not true, Dia," he said, with a light smirk. Lydia couldn't help but smile slightly at the nickname.

Though Kol called her "Dia" the most, the nickname had started with Klaus. He hadn't been able to pronounce Lydia when he was a child, so he settled for Dia. And when Rebekah, Kol, and Henrik were born, they called her Dia as well. And thus her nickname was born.

"I kept you all with me," Klaus continued. "If I wasn't sentimental, I would have dumped you all in the nearest ocean and moved on with my life."

Lydia shrugged. She supposed that was true. "You would also be alone," she reminded him. "But then again, the reason you daggered us was so that we wouldn't leave you. It's a bit ironic, I'd say."

Klaus frowned at her. "Why do you think that, sister?" he asked, blue eyes full of alarm. Lydia was revealing his deepest insecurities, and she had to force herself to back off, before Niklaus got violent.

She just shrugged. "I'm your oldest sister, I know things about you no one will ever know," she said simply.

"And I'd like to keep it that way," Klaus said pointedly, and Lydia smiled slightly.

"I'm not Rebekah, brother. I know how to keep a secret."

But it was with the mention of Rebekah that their sibling moment fell apart. Both stood in silence, staring at the tree that had once been their home.

Finally, Lydia spoke. "If you miss them as much as I do, brother, you'd undagger them," she said quietly.

Klaus sighed. "It's not that simple, Lydia," he said.

"Yes, it is," she argued, turning to look at him. "You're the only one who's making it complicated, Niklaus."

She sighed and ran her hand over her face. Maybe coming here hadn't been the smartest idea in the world. "I should leave," she said, taking a few steps away from her brother. Klaus opened his mouth to stop her, but then seemed to think better of it and didn't say anything.

Lydia paused. "The longer you leave them in those coffins, the worse it will be," she told him. Then Lydia walked away from her brother and the tree, leaving the only living reminders of how great her family had once been.

_**~SD~**_

"Lydia, about time you got home. I've been waiting for you."

Lydia sighed. The last time Damon had been waiting for her, he had practically accused her of betraying them for her brother- which she did do, but that wasn't the point.

"What do you want, Damon?" she asked, pushing her hair out of her face.

Damon rolled his eyes as he approached the original. "Don't sound so excited, Dia," he said sarcastically.

Then he smirked at her. "I have a surprise for you," he told her.

Lydia raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, you do now?" she said skeptically. Why would Damon get her something, much less something that was a secret.

Damon nodded, and then reached into his jacket and pulled out a dagger. He placed it in Lydia's hand, and her brown eyes went wide as she studied it.

Her mouth went dry, for Lydia recognized the dagger.

An identical one had been stuck in her heart for five hundred years.

"Where did you get this, Damon?" she all but demanded. "What did you do?"

Damon smirked at her. "Go up to your room and find out," he replied cryptically, before walking away from her.

In a flash, Lydia burst into her room. If she had been alive, her heart would have been pounding in her chest. Her eyes looked desperately around the room. Then time stopped when they focused on a coffin that was pushed up against her bed.

She was frozen in her spot, praying that the coffin was what she thought it was. If Damon was just playing a sick joke on her, she'd rip his heart out of his chest and shove it back down his throat.

Slowly, Lydia approached the coffin, almost afraid of what was inside it. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, before she lifted the top of the coffin and let it fall open.

A gasp fell from her lips, as Lydia stared blankly at the person who was inside.

"_Elijah,"_ she breathed.

Then, as if he had heard his sister call his name, Elijah came alive with a loud gasp for air.

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **thank you to: Poetgirl10, sez23, SomebodyWhoCares, Shannon the Original, and Lady Syndra for Reviewing!

Review!

~Abby!


	13. thank you

**Chapter twelve**

_Thank you_

Lydia was in complete shock. She couldn't understand that Elijah was undaggered, that he was alive again. She couldn't comprehend that she had her brother back again.

And his timing couldn't have been better. Because Lydia needed Elijah right now more than she had ever needed her big brother ever in her life.

"L-Lydia?" Elijah said, confused, as he blinked up at his sister slowly. Then he shook his head slightly. "You're dead. Niklaus daggered you."

Lydia knew that the first minute after being daggered- no matter for how long- was the most vulnerable minute of your existence. You had no idea where you were, what was going on. And then all the memories came rushing back. You remember that you had been "dead" for a long time, "killed" by someone you had trusted and loved. And that life had just moved on without you, not slowing down even slightly.

Lydia started to come out of her state of shock with a slight shake of her head. "I was," she corrected him. "But now I'm not anymore."

She watched her brother as the memories played back in his eyes. She watched him as he remembered what had happened. Niklaus had daggered him, just like he had the rest of their siblings. Elijah sat up and frowned at Lydia, slowly putting the pieces together as the rest of his body started up again.

"You were undaggered," he said slowly, eyebrows furrowed slightly. "How long ago?"

"Not too long ago," she said with a little headshake. "A few weeks at the most."

"And it was just you? None of the others?" Elijah asked, and Lydia shook her head again.

"You and I are the only two who have been undaggered, Elijah," she said.

Lydia felt a rush of emotion then, when it finally sunk in. _Elijah was alive. _She had her brother back, just like she had hoped and prayed the last few weeks. She had needed his guidance for as long as she had been back, and now she finally had it.

When she thought Elijah wasn't looking, Lydia wiped the tears from her eyes that had been threatening to fall. Unfortunately for her, Elijah noticed.

He frowned at her, wondering what had happened to his little sister while she had been in the twenty first century. Just by the look on her face, he could tell that she definitely wasn't doing so well. No one else knew Lydia like he did. No one else knew when she was the verge of breaking down, of falling over the edge. And he knew that she had had one or two break downs just in the past week alone.

He would've given anything to be there, so he could stop it.

"Are you crying, Lydia?" he asked her, his voice soft.

She tried to shake her head no, but then a tear rolled down her cheek, giving her away. She laughed slightly, brushing away.

Elijah frowned and raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you upset that I'm alive again, Lydia? Would you rather that dagger remain in my chest?" he asked her pointedly, confused as to why she was crying.

Lydia let out a half choked laugh. "Quite the contrary brother," she said. "You don't know how much I've missed you."

And then Elijah softened again, just as Lydia hooked an arm around his neck, hugging her big brother, as if to make sure he wasn't a figment of her imagination.

But Elijah was very real, and he didn't plan on leaving Lydia anytime soon.

_**~SD~**_

"You missed so much, Elijah," Lydia said, pouring two glasses of blood from the blood bags she was getting used to drinking from. Fresh blood would always be the best, but there was the convenience factor of blood bags that was too good to pass up.

"As did you, Lydia," he countered, referring to the five hundred years Lydia had been daggered in a coffin.

She noticed that Elijah was angry, much like she had been once the shock of being undaggered wore off. She noticed it in the way he walked, the way his jaw set, the way his brown eyes flashed whenever he thought of Niklaus. He was very, very angry, and he had every right to be.

Lydia hadn't even forgiven Klaus herself. She was still angry, more so that he had daggered Kol, Finn, Rebekah, and Elijah than anything else. But she didn't hate him, she had admitted that much to herself.

She didn't think she couldn't say the same for Elijah.

"Why did they undagger me, Lydia?" Elijah asked her, bringing her attention back to her brother. Lydia bit her lip, knowing where this conversation would be heading.

"I assume it was to keep me happy with them, maybe even to make me feel like I owe them," she muttered, brushing a few curls out of her eyes as she handed Elijah his glass of blood. She knew how thirsty one got after being daggered.

Elijah's eyebrows raised. "Why did they undagger you, Lydia?" he asked her, though they both knew he already knew why.

Lydia sighed. "They wanted my help to kill Niklaus," she said.

"And you agreed to help them, didn't you?"

She nodded once. "Yes, I did."

There are was silence, and Lydia closed her eyes, exhaling sharply. She didn't need this, she didn't need Elijah to judge her. Especially since he had tried to kill their brother as well. And he had gotten close as well.

"Don't, Elijah," Lydia said, before he could say anything. "Whatever you plan to say, don't bother. I was angry. Very angry. He killed us, all of us, and I wanted him to get a taste of his own medicine. But I've changed my mind. I don't need you to judge me for something I decided to do when I was too angry to think straight."

"I'm not judging you, Lydia," Elijah said, his voice calm, as he cut off Lydia's speech cleanly. "What would give me the right, when I have tried to do the same thing? I almost succeeded too. I was simply curious as to why they would choose you out of all of us to assist them in killing Niklaus."

Lydia frowned, feeling slightly embarrassed that she had freaked out at her brother for no reason. "I assume that they undaggered me because they knew I would be very angry, because loyalty is so important to me," she said.

"But that is the same reason why you would be a terrible choice, Lydia," Elijah told her. "Because, no matter how angry you are, you're too loyal to go through with killing your own brother."

Lydia remained silent as she thought about Mikael. She had helped kill him. But even though he was her father, Lydia still felt no guilt over his death. All she felt was a sick sense of relief.

She looked up at her brother then, with brown eyes identical to his, and said, rather bluntly, "Mikael is dead, Elijah."

Elijah's eyes widened in surprise. He stared at his sister for a few seconds, to see if she was just playing a joke on him, before asking, "How?"

"Niklaus killed him," she said. "With the weapon Mikael planned to use on him."

Elijah's eyes narrowed at the mention of Niklaus. "How do you know this for sure, Lydia?"

"Because I was there, brother," she told him, crossing her arms over her chest. "I helped Niklaus kill our father."

Again, the room went into silence as Elijah absorbed the information Lydia had dropped on him. Finally, he spoke. "You really have forgiven him, Lydia, haven't you?"

She sighed and ran a hand over her face. "I'm still angry, Elijah," she said. "No, I haven't forgiven him. But I do not hate him. I can't, no matter how much I want to."

Lydia finished the rest of her blood before standing up. "Perhaps you'll understand, Elijah," she said. "Once your anger at him wears off."

Then Lydia slipped quietly out of the room, to get more blood, but also to leave Elijah to his thoughts.

_**~SD~**_

"How's your family reunion going?"

Lydia set the blood bags she had been carrying on a table and turned to face Damon. "Well," she said. "I've missed my brother very much."

"I know," he replied simply. Then he poured himself a glass of bourbon. Damon looked up at Lydia and raised an eyebrow. "Want one?"

Lydia looked towards the stairs and bit her lip. She desperately wanted to get back to her brother, but she had to say some things to Damon. So she nodded and stepped closer to him.

She accepted the whiskey and took a long sip before speaking. "I just wanted to say something to you, before I convince myself not to say anything…" Lydia said, and Damon raised an eyebrow at her.

"What could you possibly want to say to me?" he asked her, though seemed curious as to what it was.

"Thank you."

Lydia stared earnestly at Damon, as his eyes widened in surprise. "For giving me my brother back," she added.

It didn't matter how pure or selfless his intentions were. It didn't matter if he was using Elijah as incentive to stay on his side, as if saying _'You help us kill Klaus, and there's plenty more where that came from.' _None of it mattered.

Because Damon undaggering Elijah for Lydia, no matter his ulterior motives, had to be, hands down, the kindest thing anyone had done for her in centuries. And that deserved a thank you.

The look on Damon's face told Lydia that no one thanked him very often. Then he looked down into his glass. "Yeah, well, we made a deal," he muttered gruffly. "Your family for Klaus' death. I'm just holding up my end of the bargain. You keep yours and then you'll get the rest of them back."

He was trying to make it seem as if he didn't deserve her thanks, as if he didn't want or need it. But Lydia liked to think that Damon liked to be appreciated, for she knew almost better than anybody, what it was like to be underappreciated. And just one thank you, just those two words, can make a big difference.

She smiled slightly. "I'll keep that in mind," she said, finishing her bourbon. Then she went to get the blood bags, before she stopped herself.

"What did Stefan and Elena think of your undaggering of my brother?" she asked, purely out of curiosity.

Damon flashed her a twisted smirk. "They weren't too pleased with me," he said. "Elena got all lecture-y and Stefan said I was going to ruin everything, if I kept acting impulsively like I was."

Lydia frowned suddenly. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, picking up her bags of blood, her fingers brushing against the labels of them.

His eyebrows rose. "For what?" he asked.

"That out of all the women in the world, you fell in love with the one that is head over heels for your brother," she said softly.

Damon's face hardened then, and she knew that he didn't want to discuss that with anyone, let alone her. "Way to point out the elephant in the room, Dia," he muttered.

"You know," she said, not knowing why she wanted to talk to Damon about such a sensitive subject, just that she felt like she had to, "Elijah and Niklaus were in love with the same woman, back when we were human. Her name was Tatia, and she was the original doppelganger."

Damon looked up at her in surprise, but Lydia continued on with her story. "It tore our family apart. They were always bickering and fighting, when they had always been rather close. And I was rather disgusted by both of them, to be honest," she told him.

Damon raised an eyebrow in question. "Why?"

"Because they were brothers," she said simply. "And nothing was more important than that. Family above all, no matter what."

Damon sighed. "It's not that simple, Lydia-" he started to say, but she cut him off.

"The thing is, Damon," she said, turning towards the stairs. "When people say that it isn't simple, they are usually the ones making the situation complicated."

She walked towards the stairs, but paused at the first step. "Just remember, Damon," she said quietly, her back to him. "That no matter what happens, at the end of the day, Stefan will always be your brother. Nothing will ever change the blood that binds you two."

Then she marched up the stairs before Damon could get another word in.

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **thank you to: Lady Syndra, Kelli83, Guest, dianaemrys15, and SomebodyWhoCares for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	14. Family Meeting

**Chapter thirteen**

_Family meeting_

"Sorry it took me so long," Lydia said as she walked back into her bedroom, the bags of blood still in her hands. "I had to talk to someone."

"Damon Salvatore," Elijah said in an odd voice, looking away from the window and to his little sister. "I know, I heard the conversation. You two seem awfully… friendly."

Lydia raised an eyebrow at Elijah. She recognized his tone. It was his 'overprotective big brother' tone. It was the tone he always used whenever he thought Lydia was involved with someone romantically. And it was the tone that always came before he violently threatened the man he assumed her to be involved with.

"I was thanking him, Elijah," she said, setting the blood bags down on a nearby table. "That is what one does when someone does something for another person, no matter their intentions. It is the polite thing to do, after all."

"Well, your conversation seemed a lot more than just a polite thank you, Lydia."

She sighed. "I can assure you, Elijah, I wouldn't even consider Damon a friend, let alone a lover," she said, deciding to get straight to the point, as to end the rather uncomfortable conversation quickly.

Elijah looked as if he could have gone the rest of his existence without even hearing Lydia say the word lover. "You seemed rather… enamored with him," he continued, his face hardening at the thought. Clearly he didn't think highly of Damon.

She scoffed. "You think I fancy every man I talk to that isn't related to me, Elijah," she said. "Believe me, I don't fancy Damon. I tolerate him at the most. He holds no respect for me, it's rather infuriating."

Elijah was still focused on the thought of Lydia fancying Damon even slightly. It made him grit his teeth. "I hope not," he said. "Damon Salvatore could live a thousand lives and you would still be too good for him."

She smiled slightly. "You say that about every man you think I'm attracted to," she said.

"Because you have yet to find one deserving of you."

"I'm sure there isn't a man that exists who you would approve of," Lydia countered, remembering how difficult it had been, to try to have any sort of relationship with a man with Elijah as her eldest brother. It reached the point where she was blatantly lying to him, so that he wouldn't go ripping the poor man's throat out. Instances like that never happened to Rebekah, and she envied her sister because of it.

"Oh, there isn't," Elijah agreed.

Lydia smiled slightly before rolling her eyes. "You're the reason I've remained alone the last thousand years," she told him, not angrily.

"I'm sure the fact that you've been daggered the past five hundred years is more likely the culprit," Elijah answered dryly.

It was the mention of Lydia being daggered that made both of them remember Niklaus. It made Lydia remember just how complicated the situation she was in was, and it made Elijah remember his anger at his younger brother.

All in all, it killed the mood.

"I know that you want nothing more than to get Niklaus back for what he has done," Lydia said after a long pause of silence. "But I highly advise you to not to seek out any form of revenge."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Why do you think I'm thinking of revenge?"

"Because that's all I could think about after I was undaggered," Lydia answered. "I wanted his head on a stick, and I wanted you, Kol, Rebekah, and Finn back. Can you tell me that you do not want those things as well?"

Elijah sighed. "He kept us in coffins, Lydia," he reminded her. "You do not think Niklaus needs to pay for the things he's done?"

"I never said that," Lydia said. "I'm simply saying that you are in no place to make him pay, brother. You're the most cautious out of all of us, Elijah; don't choose this moment to be impulsive."

Suddenly, Lydia's cellphone chose that moment to ring. She let out a sigh, and was almost going to ignore it, but decided to answer it after all.

"Hello?" she said politely, running a hand over her face.

"_What the _hell _did you do, Lydia?"_

She stiffened at the sound of the familiar voice, as did Elijah. She didn't even want to know how he got her phone number, but Klaus had always been very resourceful.

"I wouldn't know what you're talking about, Niklaus," she replied calmly, turning away from Elijah. "I haven't done anything today."

"_Right," _Klaus said sarcastically. _"So the fact that Elijah is gone would be news to you?"_

Lydia paused. She looked to Elijah, who remained stoic despite the growing anger in his eyes. Then she looked back to the bedroom wall. "Elijah is missing? That's rather curious. Maybe one of your hybrids misplaced his coffin," she said, trying her best to keep her façade up.

"_Don't insult my intelligence, Lydia," _Klaus snapped. _"Elijah has always been your favorite brother. I _know _you had something to do with this."_

"On the contrary, Niklaus," she said. "I played no part in Elijah's disappearance." That had been the first honest thing she had said in the conversation.

"_You have no idea what you've just done, Lydia," _he hissed at her.

She rolled her eyes. "I'd spend less time threatening me and more time trying to find Elijah, Niklaus. It'd be a real shame if our brother found you first," she said. Then she hung up on him.

Tossing her cellphone onto her bed, Lydia sighed again and turned to face Elijah. "We have a problem," she said. "Niklaus knows you're-"

Her eyes widened when she discovered that Elijah was no longer in her bedroom.

"-gone," she finished.

But Lydia knew exactly where Elijah had run off to. And she knew that things were going to get messy.

_**~SD~**_

Lydia was in a hurry to get to Elijah and Niklaus. She had completely ignored Damon, Stefan, and Elena when they had asked her where she was going. And she made it to the mansion in minutes.

She knew Elijah had already beaten her to Niklaus the second she walked into the mansion. The front door was open and what few hybrids her brother had after Mikael's attack lay dead on the floor, their blood and hearts staining the otherwise pristine tile.

The sounds of crashing made Lydia snap her to the right. Then she let out a sigh, knowing that she was going to walk in on a confrontation similar to the one she and Klaus had had the night she was undaggered. A thirst for revenge really did run in the family.

When Lydia walked into a room not too far away, she witnessed the sight of Elijah sending Niklaus flying into the wall, leaving a rather gaping hole in the wall. Instead of intervening, Lydia just crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the entryway. She had to admit, the sight of Niklaus being harmed physically brought a rather sick and twisted pleasure to her. Yes, Lydia was still very angry with her brother.

"You know, I did reunite you with our family, just like I promised," Klaus said as he stood up, wiping the blood off of his mouth where Elijah had punched him. There was a dark anger in his eyes, but it was nowhere near the burning animosity in his brother's eyes.

Klaus' remark only angered Elijah even more. Lydia sighed again. One of Niklaus' many faults was that he never knew when to shut up. He always had to have the last word in, he always had to feel superior over the other person.

"Alright, now I think that is enough," Lydia said, choosing to intervene before someone got a heart removed from their chest.

Both brothers looked over to their sister. Elijah sighed, just one disapproving look from Lydia sobering him up almost instantly. Niklaus, on the other hand, looked extremely annoyed to see Lydia.

"About time, Lydia," he said, running a hand through his hair, brushing debris off of himself at the same time. "I thought you were going to stand there forever."

"Well I thought it only fair that Elijah get his chance to take his aggression out on you, brother," she replied dryly. "You did dagger him after all."

"How could I forget, with you bringing it up every ten seconds?" Klaus retorted. Lydia just smirked back at him.

Then her eyes flickered over to a group of four coffins in a corner, and the smirk fell from her lips. She didn't know what was stronger in her at that moment, grief or anger. She shouldn't have been stopping a fight between her brothers at that moment. She shouldn't have been angry at Niklaus. And her siblings shouldn't have been in coffins, good as dead.

That wasn't how her life was supposed to be.

Elijah's eyes trailed over to where Lydia was looking, and when he saw the four coffins, the anger seemed to rekindle again. His eyes darkened, his jaw tightened, his muscles tensed. But before he could attack Klaus again, Lydia was blocking his path, acting as a barrier between Elijah and Niklaus.

"Don't, Elijah," she said in a warning tone. Soon enough his anger would pass, and he would go back to being the calm, cool, and collected big brother she knew, loved, and trusted.

He sighed, but took a step away from the two. After making sure he wasn't going to try anything, Lydia turned to Klaus. When he saw her eyes flicker to the coffins and back again, he sighed.

"You want to undagger them, don't you?" he asked.

"I think you know the answer to that," Lydia replied. _Please, Niklaus, _she said with her eyes. _I want my family back._

But all three original vampires and siblings wanted the same thing. They wanted their family back. Even Niklaus, who had been the one to take it away.

Klaus had never felt so exhausted in his life. He wanted this to be done with. He wanted to be done with Mystic Falls, for good. And he knew the only way that could happen would be if the rest of them were undaggered.

Lydia expected Klaus to say no. She was already planning a way to overpower him in her head, when her brother nodded once. She frowned, almost missing the subtle movement.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"You can undagger them, Lydia, if that is what you really want," Klaus said, already walking passed her and Elijah as he spoke.

Lydia and Elijah were stunned into silence. When Klaus reached the entryway, he paused. "I trust you know what you're doing, Lydia," he said quietly, before leaving the room.

Then Elijah and Lydia were left alone in the room with the coffins holding the siblings they were meant to undagger.

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **Sorry guys! I totally meant to update this weekend!

Thank you to: superkiran, KrysGrayMist, DementorsKiss95, TVDDamonSLover, SomebodyWhoCares, and Lady Syndra for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	15. The Consequences

**Chapter fourteen**

_The Consequences _

_12__th__ century_

_Lydia stared blankly at the castle wall, her mind a continuous flux of thoughts. She was still in shock, she still couldn't comprehend what had happened an hour ago._

_Niklaus said it was for the best, in more ways than one. Rebekah instantly believed him, but that wasn't a shock. Kol, she could tell, was starting to become nervous. How long would he stay with the rest of them before he ran out of worry that he would be next?_

"_Lydia."_

_She didn't bother to look at her brother as he approached her. Elijah too, had admitted that it was for the best, although somewhat reluctantly. And that was the first time in centuries Lydia had ever felt disappointed in her eldest brother._

"_Don't bother, Elijah," she said, turning her back on him. Even though she didn't know what to think, she knew what _not _to think. And she knew that what had happened was definitely not for the best._

_But Lydia didn't know why she was the only one who felt that._

_He sighed. "You don't understand, Lydia-" he started to say._

_She cut him off. "Don't insult my intelligence, Elijah," she snapped, narrowing her eyes angrily at him. "I understand perfectly. Maybe it is the rest of you who don't understand."_

_Elijah remained silent, and Lydia instantly felt guilty for her outburst. She never yelled at Elijah, ever. She never argued with his opinion, never questioned his word. And she never felt as angry with him as she did at that moment._

_Because Lydia felt as if he should've stopped it. He was the oldest, after all. It was his job to keep them all intact. But it was more than just Elijah. Lydia was angry with herself as well. Because she had just stood there as it happened. She had let it happened. She could've stopped it, but she didn't. And really, she was just as responsible as Elijah, as Niklaus, as the rest of them. _

"_I know you don't see it that way right now, Lydia," Elijah said after a few minutes of shameful silence. "But it is really for the best. For all of us, even him."_

_Lydia's brown eyes- matching to Elijah's- flashed up to him. "How is Finn dead the best for everyone?" she muttered bitterly. "I think you're just telling yourself that so you don't have to face the guilt, brother."_

_Elijah sighed again. This is why he was the one who went to see Lydia, to explain it to her. Because he had the patience others didn't. But Lydia was being unusually difficult, and it was starting to frustrate him._

"_Finn isn't dead," he corrected her. "He is just daggered, Lydia. There is a difference."_

"_Is there really?" In an instant, Lydia was standing an inch away from Elijah, her face full of guilty anger. "Because the only way I see it is that our brother is lying dead in a box somewhere, while the rest of us continue living. And no one seems to really care."_

_Elijah closed his eyes as Lydia turned away from him. "That isn't fair, Lydia," he said. "He is our brother."_

"_If anyone cared, why did we let Niklaus do this to him?" Lydia looked up at Elijah again. Not in anger though, she looked up at him for guidance. Because Lydia was confused and a bit lost. She didn't know what to do after the daggering of Finn, how to process it. And she wanted- more like needed- Elijah to explain it all to her._

"_Finn didn't want this," he reminded her in a low voice. "He didn't want to be a vampire."_

"_None of us did," Lydia corrected him._

_Elijah took a deep breath. He was slowly losing his patience with Lydia, something that had never happened. "He was suicidal, Lydia," Elijah told her bluntly. "He was leaving us to find a way to end his life. If Niklaus hadn't daggered him, Finn would have killed himself for real."_

_Lydia scoffed and turned away from Elijah. "That's not why he did it," she said. "You and I both know the real reason."_

"_Care to enlighten me, Lydia?" Elijah said dryly, finally losing his patience._

"_He did it because _they _would have killed him if Finn's daggering hadn't disarmed them as well," Lydia said. _

"They _would have killed all of us, Lydia," Elijah corrected her. "The Clan would have killed our entire family, including yourself. But they can't now that Finn is daggered."_

_Lydia scoffed again. "So he is our savior?" she said, her lip curling in disgust. "Should I kiss his feet or would you like the honors?"_

_Elijah growled at her, eyes flashing angrily. "Niklaus saved us all, Lydia," he said._

"_At Finn's expense!" she snapped back. "Niklaus didn't save all of us, Brother. Finn is rotting in a box because of him. And I am sorry but I can't just accept that."_

"_Then learn to, Lydia," he growled. "Because Finn is daggered. And although I wish things could be different, if he wasn't daggered, all of us would very much be dead right now."_

_Lydia gritted her teeth but didn't respond. Elijah sighed angrily before turning towards the door. Lydia went back to staring at the castle wall. "What if he daggers Kol next, Elijah?" she said in a low voice, not looking at him. "Or Rebekah? Or me? Or yourself? What then?"_

"_He won't," Elijah said. But he didn't sound completely sure. _

_Lydia just closed her eyes. Seconds later, she was alone in her room._

_She took a deep breath, guilt washing over her. "I am so sorry, Finn," she whispered._

_Because Lydia had the chance to stop it. She was in the room when it happened. She witnessed Niklaus pulling out the dagger, saw him head towards Finn. She watched him place his hand on their brother's shoulder, then slide the dagger into his chest, into his heart._

_She bit her lip and watched Finn's eyes widen in surprise, in complete shock. She watched his face turn grey, watched the light fade from his eyes. Then she heard him choke on his last breathe as he collapsed into Niklaus' arms._

_Lydia had witnessed the entire thing. And never stopped it._

_This was her fault._

Lydia stared longingly at the coffins. She so badly wanted to pull them open, to tear the daggers pout of her siblings' chests. But then she remembered Klaus' words to her.

_"I trust you know what you're doing, Lydia."_

She knew _exactly _what he meant by that. Because the only reason The Clan hadn't been after them the past thousand years is because one of them has always been daggered. And that had saved all their lives.

If she undaggered the rest of them now, what would that cause? What would happen?

"We have to, Lydia. No matter what the consequences are," Elijah said suddenly, as if reading her mind.

Lydia smiled twistedly as she turned around to face her brother. "Ironically, nine centuries ago it was you who was trying to convince me Finn's daggering was for the best," she told him, remembering that night perfectly.

"Back then, I thought it was," Elijah countered simply. "But now, we have to reunite our family."

"We'll be reuniting them as well, Brother," she said, taking a step towards him. "And I will _not _spend the next centuries of my life running again. I thought all the running died with Mikael."

"We'll think of a solution when we come to that," he promised her. Then he frowned. "You're not seriously thinking about leaving one of them daggered, are you?"

Lydia sighed and ran a hand over her face. "I don't know what I'm thinking," she confessed.

"You're thinking like Niklaus," Elijah said.

Lydia's eyes flashed to him. "You think so?" she said, knowing that wasn't necessarily a compliment.

He sighed. "We _can't _go through this again, Lydia," he told her.

She sighed too. "I know," she admitted. "But we can't pretend that we won't be in trouble. How long until they find us? How long until The Clan tries to kill us again?"

Elijah took a step towards her. "The only way we will be able to get rid of them once and for all is if we're all united again." Then he looked at her oddly. "Why are you even questioning this, Lydia?"

Yes, Lydia wanted to undagger Finn, Kol, and Rebekah more than anybody. But she also had to consider the consequences. And the consequences were that The Clan would be reawakened along with her siblings. And then they would attempt to destroy the original vampires again. And that might mean losing her brothers and sister permanently- not just by being daggered, but true death.

And if Lydia had to choose between them being daggered or killed truly, she would always choose being daggered.

"Because I don't want to lose anyone permanently," she whispered quietly, not looking at Elijah.

"You're thinking too far into the future, Sister," he told her.

"You're the one who told me to always be prepared for every possible outcome," she told him.

"We're _not _going to leave them daggered in their coffins, Lydia," Elijah told him firmly. "I won't allow it."

Lydia sighed and ran a hand over her face. How could she even think about leaving her family in their coffins? That is all she had wanted, to get them back. And now she was thinking about leaving them daggered when she had the opportunity.

Even though her intentions were pure, Lydia couldn't believe how ridiculous her thoughts were.

"You're right," she said finally. "Of course you're right. I don't know what I was thinking."

Elijah smiled slightly at her. "You were just worrying, Lydia," he told her. "It's what you've always done."

"Someone had to," she retorted.

Then the two turned to face the four coffins and the task that would change everything.

Lydia frowned suddenly, realizing something. "Why are there four coffins?" she asked. "When there are only Rebekah, Kol, and Finn daggered?"

Elijah frowned too. "I'm not sure," he answered. Then he approached the coffins.

Lydia was on his heels. Elijah grabbed the first coffin and together they wheeled it out to the center of the room. Elijah pulled the lid open to reveal Rebekah.

Lydia felt her breathe catch at the sight of her little sister. She hadn't realized how much she missed her- missed all of them- until she was seeing them again for the first time in five hundred years.

Lydia reached forward, and her hand curled around the dagger. With one last look at Elijah, she pulled it out of her sister's heart.

Lydia couldn't help the smile that crept onto her lips. Even though Rebekah didn't instantly awake, just the feeling of pulling her dagger out of her chest was enough to make Lydia realize that being with her family again was worth the consequences.

Next Elijah wheeled Kol out. Then he pulled his dagger out, and Lydia felt her heart grow even lighter. Once they undaggered Finn, their family would be reunited once again.

Seeing Finn was the hardest for Lydia, because he was the only sibling she had witnessed being daggered. Again, she felt guilt for not stopping Klaus from daggering Finn. Elijah must've sensed her guilt, because he let her pull Finn's dagger out.

Once all their siblings were undaggered, all that was left was to wait for them to return to life. Elijah and Lydia turned around to face the mysterious coffin.

"Any idea what's inside?" Lydia asked, looking curiously at it.

"I haven't a clue," Elijah answered, as they walked towards the coffin.

Lydia went to open it, but it wouldn't budge. Elijah tried, but he didn't have any luck either. It just made the mysterious coffin that much more interesting to Lydia.

The only thing that brought Lydia's attention away from the coffin was the sound of Rebekah gasping for air as she finally woke up. Seconds later, Kol was gasping as well. Then Finn shot up in his coffin, alive for the first time in nine hundred years.

Every Mikaelson sibling was alive once again.

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **thank you to: graciegirl000, SomebodyWhoCares, Tvdlover87654, halos, and Lovely Rain Dancer for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	16. Adjustment

**Chapter fifteen**

_Adjustment_

Vampires didn't technically need sleep, but it was one of those old human habits that had always been hard to kick. Besides, sleep provided vampires with many things. It put them in better moods, made them less likely to rip into humans' throats, and it also made them more energized.

So Lydia didn't _need_ sleep- technically- but after spending all night helping Kol, Finn, and Rebekah adjust to the twenty first century, all she wanted to do was collapse on the first bed she found.

Like she and Elijah had been, Kol, Finn, and Rebekah had been angry with Niklaus. Very, _very _angry. Even Rebekah, who Klaus was to her what Elijah was to Lydia. Lydia tried her best to keep them from attacking Klaus- which wasn't as easy as it should have been. But when Lydia had been busy with Rebekah, Kol had snuck off and beaten the living shit out of Klaus.

Elijah had let him. He was still angry with their brother. Lydia seemed to be the only sibling who wanted to keep the violence against Niklaus to a minimum.

The three siblings who at least had an idea what they were doing in this century- Klaus, Lydia, and Elijah- each were charged with one of their other siblings. Klaus had Rebekah- because, even though she was pissed at him, Rebekah had never managed to stay angry at him long. And Klaus was very capable of handling one of Rebekah's temper tantrums.

Kol was assigned to Elijah. Mostly because neither Klaus nor Lydia wanted to get stuck with their youngest brother. Kol was a pain in the ass on the best of days. He would be a million times worse when he had just woken up from sleeping in a coffin for the past century. And since Elijah was the oldest, Kol became his problem.

That left Lydia with Finn. She didn't mind, not one bit. She thought she even got the best out of all of them. Because even though Finn hadn't been "alive" in nine hundred years, he was easily the mellowest out of all of her siblings.

Still, the guilt of letting Finn rot in a box for almost a thousand years was still an intense feeling in Lydia. She found it hard to look her big brother in the eye as she ushered him into one of the many cars Klaus owned. She planned on taking Finn into town to get his hair cut- he still had his pirate hair- and buy him clothes from this century.

Lydia wasn't the best driver in the world- especially since Damon had only given her a crash course a few days ago- but she managed to make it to the mall without running over anyone. The car ride had been completely silence, as Finn took in the spectacle that was the twenty first century with wide eyes and a grain of salt.

"Everything is so… different," Finn said in a hushed voice as he got out of the car. Lydia smiled knowingly. She still wasn't completely used to the bright lights and loud noises.

"I know what you mean, brother," she said, leading him towards the same salon she had gotten her hair cut at. "It's all still overwhelming for me at times."

Finn frowned as a young girl around seventeen walked past the two of them. She eyed Finn flirtatiously, and was wearing clothes that exposed more skin than a swim suit. He looked alarmed and turned to his younger sister.

"The women this century are quite… ah, provocative," Finn said slowly. He wasn't the kind of man to use the word "whore".

"tell me about it," Lydia said, rolling her eyes at the lack of respect some women had for themselves and their body. Then she tugged on Finn's arm. "Come on. I don't like the idea of leaving Kol alone with just one set of eyes watching him."

The hair dresser had tsked at the sight of Finn's hair. She muttered something about crazy hippies before chopping it all off. When she was finished, Finn stared at his reflection in shock. Lydia smiled sympathetically and squeezed her brother's shoulder. This was all too much to take in at such a short amount of time, she knew. But she thought he was doing reasonably well.

As they walked to a clothing store, Finn watching the humans interact with a curious eye, Lydia let out a sigh. The guilt had been eating away at her for hours. Finally, she took a deep breath and looked down at her shoes.

"I just want to say how sorry I am, Finn," she said quietly.

Finn, who had been running a hand over his now short hair, looked at her in surprise. "What have you to be sorry about, Sister?" he asked her, frowning.

"I let Niklaus dagger you, brother," she explained, still unable to look at him in the eye. "I let you just rot away in a box and I never did anything about it. And, for that, I am very sorry."

Finn sighed. "That is not your fault, Lydia," he told her. "It is _Niklaus'."_

He said their brother's name like some would utter a cuss. He said his name like it was a mold, a fungus you would find growing on the foulest thing in the deepest crevice of hell. Lydia sighed again.

"I understand why you are angry with him, Finn, I do, but-" he started to say.

He cut her off, his frown deepening. "Why must you defend him, Lydia? He daggered all of us, including you. He destroyed our family," he hissed, eyes narrowed.

"Maybe Niklaus did destroy us," she said slowly, thoughtfully. "But didn't we all let him?"

They walked to the store in silence, Finn having nothing to answer her rhetorical question with. Then Lydia picked out clothes for Finn, while he just stood silently in a corner, glowering whenever a worker would approach him.

Lydia walked up to the clerk to purchase a mountain of clothes with a plastic card Klaus had thrown at her when she told him she and Finn were going shopping. She wasn't quite sure how to use it, but she handed it to the clerk, who seemed to accept it as an appropriate form of payment. She handed the card back to her, and Lydia tucked it safely in her pocket, amazed at the power a cheap chunk of plastic had. It just proved that she didn't know all the secrets of that century.

"Lydia? What are you doing here?"

Lydia frowned and turned around, her arms full of bags. Elena stared at her, her eyebrows furrowed. She sighed at the doppelganger. This wasn't how she imagined breaking the news to the people who wanted her brother dead. But one never got to choose how fate played out.

"Shopping," she answered in a pleasant voice, looking for Finn out of the corner of her eye.

"Shopping?" Elena repeated, like it was a foreign word. "Where did you run off to last night? we were looking for you."

"Yes, Elena, about that-" Lydia was cut off when a tall man suddenly appeared at her side.

"Are we going now, Lydia?" Finn asked his sister somewhat impatiently. She nodded as she handed him a few of the bags she was carrying.

"Yes, Finn," she said. "You can go wait outside. I won't be long."

Finn walked away from the two girls then, looking at Elena oddly, no doubt remembering Tatia. "Who was that?" Elena breathed, clearly intimidated at the sight of Finn. He had been a Viking, after all. A pirate. Her brother was somewhat intimidating physically.

"My brother, Finn," Lydia answered, her lips pressed tightly together. "Do not fret, Elena. Finn is very much in control of his thirst. He is not threat to you or your town. He would not harm a fly."

"Finn?" Elena repeated.

"Yes, I believe that was what I said," she snapped, unable to help herself. She was too impatient for this conversation with Elena.

"I thought Damon undaggered Elijah," Elena said slowly, eyebrows furrowed.

"Damon did," Lydia answered vaguely, a small cryptic smile on her lips. "Now, if you would excuse me, Elena. I must return to my brother before something accidently upsets him and he runs off into a town he is unfamiliar with."

"Lydia, wait-" Elena started to say, but Lydia was already marching off, her head held high.

What had Lydia done?

"Who was that?" Finn asked his sister immediately, as soon as she returned to his side. "She looks like Tatia, but Tatia died long ago."

"Yes, she did, brother," Lydia said patiently. "That was Elena Gilbert, the resident doppelganger."

Finn looked even more confused, and Lydia just sighed. "Do not worry, Finn. I will explain everything to you in time," she promised him.

With a sinking feeling in her stomach, Lydia had the strong fear at Finn would have the hardest time adjusting out of all of them.

_**~SD~**_

Lydia and Finn walked into the house in complete silence. Lydia turned to offer to teach Finn how to drive if and when he was feeling up to it, when a sudden flying object came out of nowhere with direct aim at her head. Lydia's eyes widened and she nearly dodged it.

"What the bloody hell?" she cursed, frowning at the object, which turned out to be a book of sorts. Her eyes widened when she realized that it wasn't just a book- it was a journal. _Her _journal. She picked it up, noticing _1492 _written on the side of it in black ink. It was the last journal she had ever written in.

Suddenly, another journal came flying at her and she jumped. "What the hell is going on?" she yelled, looking up at the stairs. There was no one there.

She frowned at Finn before picking up the other journal and making her way to the living room. Finn followed her, and came to a stop at the doorway. Kol was lounging on the couch, already looking like he belonged in the twenty first century. Elijah was sitting in a chair, a fresh suit on.

"What's going on?" Lydia demanded of no one in particular. "Where are Rebekah and Niklaus? And who is using my journals for target practice?"

Kol sat up, eyes lit up with the sort of excitement that could only be caused by mischief or excitement. "Bekah's been throwing your things at Nik all afternoon," he reported excitedly. "Isn't it brilliant?"

"What? Why?" Lydia's eyebrows furrowed. "Why _my _things?" she added, gritting her teeth.

Kol shrugged. "I don't know. You didn't _really _like any of that old jewelry you had, did you?" He added, smirking slightly.

Lydia sighed heatedly and turned to face Elijah. "What happened?" she said in a hard voice, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Rebekah has been in one of her moods all morning," he told her without looking up from the papers in his lap. "And she has chosen to take her mood out on Niklaus. Kol gave her the box of your things Niklaus had saved, to use as ammo."

Lydia glared at Kol. "You haven't even undaggered for a day, Kol," she muttered, turning towards the exit. "And I already regret having that dagger pulled out of your chest."

Kol just smirked at Lydia. She threw one of her journals at her younger brother, just barely missing his face. Then she turned on her heels and walked out of the room before Kol could retaliate.

Lydia dodged several more books that came her way, but a gold ring hit her in the shoulder. She sighed and ran a hand over her face. She had become an expert at calming down Rebekah, the past few decades. She had Mikael's temper.

She came across Klaus, who was standing behind a wall, so that Rebekah wouldn't hit him. He looked positively bored. "Another five minutes, and I would have snapped her neck," he muttered as he stood up.

"I'm not sure I would have blamed you," she replied, just barely missing getting hit by a shoe.

"Rebekah," Lydia said, pushing open the bedroom door swiftly. "That's enough."

Rebekah glared at her sister. "Not now, Lydia," she said through gritted teeth. "This isn't any of your business."

"It is when you're breaking my belongings in the process," Lydia replied, taking the remainders of her things from Rebekah.

"But, _Lydia-" _she whined.

"Enough, Rebekah," she said firmly. Then, to sooth her sister, she added, "In a little while, we can go shopping and you can spend all of Niklaus' money."

This seemed to please Rebekah, because she stopped throwing things. Lydia went to collect the remains of her belongings while her little sister got ready. Just then, her phone vibrated in her pocket.

She pulled it out of her pocket with a frown, eyes widening at the message. It was from Damon.

_We need to talk. Now._

She was in serious trouble.

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **So I've been getting messages about this story not focusing on Damon/Lydia. It didn't in the beginning, but it'll start to now that she has her family back. While this is a Damon/OC story, it is firstly a story about the original family.

Thank you to: InspiringLight, ctrlaltdiee , TheOtherBlueEyedSalvatore, , Lady Syndra, Lovely Rain Dancer, SomebodyWhoCares, and Tvdlover87654 for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	17. Switching Sides

**Chapter Sixteen**

_Switching Sides_

"Where are you going, Lydia?" Rebekah whined, as Lydia shut her phone and shoved it into her pocket. "I thought we were going shopping."

"We will, Rebekah," she soothed her little sister, sidestepping a pile of broken glass. "But I have to attend to something first."

"Can I come?" She asked with a frown, crossing her arms over her chest. "I haven't seen the outside of _this stupid house!" _She shouted the last part for Niklaus' sake. Clearly she was still angry at their brother.

Lydia paused. "It would bore you, Sister," she told her, thinking on her feet. "It's a business meeting, really, and you only care for pleasure."

This was true, but Rebekah frowned, still suspicious. "Are you taking Elijah then?" she asked. "You two usually attend to secret business like this together."

"No, I'm going just by myself," Lydia replied. "I'll be back in an hour, Rebekah, tops. Then we'll go wherever you want. We'll buy whatever you want. Hell, I'll even let you redecorate the house if that pleases you."

Lydia was in a hurry to get to the Boarding House. Those for words Damon had texted her made her uneasy. _We need to talk. Now. _Nothing good could come out of that sentence, especially with the "now" tacked on at the end. She feared the meeting would quickly turn into a bloodbath, and Lydia didn't much feel like getting her hands dirty that day. Damn Elena and her big mouth. Damn herself for not taking into account who would witness her siblings walking around, undead and kicking.

"Where are you going, Lydia?" Rebekah repeated stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest to make it clear she wasn't going to let Lydia leave without answers.

Lydia sighed. "You will all find out eventually, Rebekah," she told her sister, a frown on her lips. "But for now, I need to keep this secret to myself."

"You would always complain about the secrets everyone keep, Lydia," Rebekah spat, her eyes narrowing. "Yet you always seem to be the worst offender."

"Rebekah, don't-" Lydia started to say with another sigh, but her sister abruptly cut her off.

"Elijah knows what you're doing, doesn't he?" Rebekah accused more than asked.

Lydia didn't nod or shake her head, but Rebekah knew the answer just by looking in her sister's eyes. "Of course he does," she muttered, more to herself than to Lydia. "He always does. Because you two keep your secrets and plot your hidden agendas and you don't tell anyone else until you deem it 'necessary.'"

"Because we don't want to worry any of you, Rebekah," Lydia defended, her frown deepening. "You know how all of you react to stress. It wouldn't be pretty, if we told you everything right away. But we do tell you all, eventually. I will tell you what I'm doing, as soon as I deal with it."

"Yes, Lydia, you do that," Rebekah muttered sarcastically. "You just fix all the problems by yourself and we'll all thank you later on bended knee."

Rebekah stalked out of the room then. Her little sister had always gotten ruffled up easily. Kol had always taken advantage of it, and if Lydia and Elijah hadn't diffused the situations, one or both of her younger siblings would be dead at this point.

"You never complained before, Rebekah!" she called after her little sister. In response, Rebekah threw a vase at Lydia's head. She ducked it just in time. Rebekah had surprisingly accurate aim and precision when she was trying.

Lydia sighed again, but would let one of her brothers calm Rebekah down. She had a meeting to get to.

_**~SD~**_

"And where are you going, Dia?"

Lydia resisted the urge to throw Kol into a wall. She was in no mood for her youngest, most annoying and irritating brother.

"Nowhere that concerns you, Kol," she replied, not bothering to look at him.

She made to walk past him, but he blocked her path. There was a smirk on his face, the kind that made one want to wipe it off of his lips with their fist. Lydia was one of those who wanted to do that.

"Move, Kol," she replied coolly, raising an eyebrow at him. "Before I make you."

Kol's eyes widened mockingly, as if he silently saying _ooh, scary. _"Oh, how I've missed your vague threats, Dia," he said nostalgically, still smirking.

"Just as I've missed your obnoxious need to know everything that everyone does," she retorted. "Oh, wait, that's right. I haven't."

She pushed past him then, her shoulder bumping into his. Lydia walked towards the front door, needing fresh air and space. It was hard to remember the days she had actually missed this, when she missed Rebekah's temper tantrums and Kol's irritating persona. But, as they said, you never knew what you had until you didn't have it anymore.

"Leave her alone, Kol," Elijah cut in, not looking at either of his younger siblings. "Lydia has things to attend to. And you need to go clean up everything of Lydia's that Rebekah destroyed, seeing as you were the one who gave it to her."

Kol's eyes narrowed at the injustice. "Now why would I do that?"

Elijah looked up from the book in his hand then, and gave Kol The Look. It was the look that both he and Lydia possessed. It was the look older siblings had that worked on their younger siblings. It was the look that made the younger siblings- even the wild ones such as Kol- do what they were told, no questions asked.

Kol let out an irritated sigh, muttering to himself about ways he would get back at them for this, before he stalked off to do as he was told.

"I hope you know he is going to destroy any of my belongings that Rebekah hasn't already," Lydia informed her oldest brother.

Elijah just shrugged. "I just wanted him out of the way," he said. "And it's not like there was much left to salvage anyway."

Lydia shrugged too. He was right, there really wasn't. "But, just so you know," she told him. "Rebekah is up there too, pouting because she thinks I'm keeping something from her."

"You are," Elijah reminded her.

"Yes, but only because I'd like at least one day for this family to settle before I drop the fact that I've been plotting to kill Niklaus." She sighed. That would just be a huge mess she really didn't want to clean up.

"Is that where you're going now? To deal with them?" Elijah asked, frowning slightly.

Lydia nodded slowly. "Yes. Elena saw Finn and I in the mall today. Now they want answers and I have to break it to them that I switched sides." She sighed again. It would be another big mess, but Lydia was slightly comforted by the thought that they couldn't kill her, so they would be stupid to try to.

"Try not to spill too much blood, Sister," Elijah said, his attention going back to his book. Lydia smiled slightly in response, but she secretly hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Because she liked Damon, as a person. She could relate to him. And it would be a shame if she had to kill him and his brother and the self-righteous doppelganger, all because they couldn't accept that she was choosing family.

Hopefully it wouldn't come to that, but what could she possibly do if it did?

_**~SD~**_

Lydia walked into the Boarding House, eyes scanning for any sign of life as she did. "Is anyone home?" she called, walking towards the living room. There was no answer, but Lydia heard a heartbeat from the living room.

In a blur, she was standing behind the couch Elena was sitting on. The doppelganger had a sour expression on her face, that Lydia was sure she caused. She couldn't help but smirk to herself as she did. She might have spent too much time with Kol, but she kind of liked that she caused Elena frustration.

"And where are the Salvatore brothers?" Lydia asked, slowly making her way around the couch. "And Katerina? Or did she make a run for it the second Elijah was undaggered?"

Elena jumped at Lydia's voice, and turned to face the original with wide eyes. Her face hardened, but Lydia saw the anxiety in her brown eyes. She was glad it was there, it meant Elena knew who the superior being in the room was, and that it wasn't her.

"What are you doing here?" Elena muttered, sitting up and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Damon texted me," Lydia drawled, craning her neck to look for him. "Funny, though, he isn't here."

"I'm not sure where he is," Elena muttered. "He didn't tell me you were coming."

"And how come you don't look too happy to see me?" Lydia raised an eyebrow at her. She couldn't help but mess with the doppelganger- she really did spend too much with her youngest brother. He was rubbing off on her.

Elena glared up at her. "What did you do, Lydia?" she accused suddenly. "Why was Finn undaggered?"

"Oh, it isn't just Finn," she said, putting a hand on her hip. "Kol and Rebekah are undaggered too."

Elena frowned. "All your siblings…"

"Are undaggered," she finished. "My family is reunited once again."

Elena's eyes widened. "But… how?" she asked slowly.

"Niklaus agreed it was time for a family reunion," Lydia told her. "No matter what the consequences."

Elena didn't even have time to consider the vagueness to Lydia's answer before she was frowning again. Really, the eighteen year old frowned so much she was going to get wrinkles before she turned thirty.

"But that means-"

Lydia cut her off. "It means I'm no longer a part of your plan to kill my brother," Lydia told her.

Silence followed her announcement, and Elena's face shifted from shock to anger. "How?" she asked, staring up at the original. "After everything Klaus has done, how could you not want him dead?"

"He's my brother, Elena," she murmured.

"He killed your mother, your father," Elena said. "He daggered all of you. Why are you protecting him?"

"He's my brother, Elena," she repeated simply. "How could I not?"

"He's using me as a blood bag, Lydia," Elena shot back, frowning.

"Well, unlike everyone else, Elena," Lydia muttered sarcastically. "My concerns don't revolve around you."

Elena's face flushed at the dig. "Well, we're not gonna stop, you know," Elena muttered angrily. "We still want him dead."

Lydia's eyes narrowed in anger. "He is my brother, Elena," she growled. "Niklaus is my brother, and I swear on every god this world has ever worshipped, I will rip all of you apart if you go anywhere near him."

In a flash, Lydia had Elena up off the ground by her neck, her brown eyes flashing with rage as she looked at the fearful doppelganger. How easy it would be, to twist her hand and end her life. But Lydia had more control than that.

But even before she could anything if she wanted to, Lydia was smashed against a wall, Damon glaring angrily at her. _"What the hell are you doing?" _He growled at her."

"Get off of me," she replied, pushing the younger vampire off of her easily.

Elena stared at her with a mixture anger and fear. She was on the floor, breathing hard. "She's turned on us, Damon," she told him, her eyes still on Lydia. "She undaggered the rest of her siblings and now she's not going to help us kill Klaus."

Damon turned to Lydia, blue eyes wide. "What did you do, Lydia?" he echoed Elena warily.

"What would you do, Damon?" Lydia asked him quietly, void of any anger now. "What would you do if it were Stefan?"

He rolled his eyes. "That's different-"

She cut him off. "No, it isn't. Stefan is your baby brother and Niklaus is mine. What would you do if everyone was trying to kill him?"

Damon didn't respond, but Lydia knew his answer. He'd do exactly what she dud.

"I did what was best for my family, Damon," Lydia said, louder this time. "And I'm not going to apologize for that."

She walked out of the room then, the vampire and the doppelganger staring after her.

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **So this chapter was complete shit and I apologize for that. But I wanted to get something out :/

Thank you to: ctrlaltdiee, NoseInANovel, Guest, Lady Syndra, SomebodyWhoCares, Guest, Lovely Rain Dancer, Kelli83, and Tvdlover87654 for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	18. Thomas

**Chapter Seventeen**

_Thomas_

_12__th__ century_

_Lydia had never been a fan of parties. Rebekah always forced her to dress up and attend, but she loathed it. She knew she'd have to smile until her facial muscles hurt and compliment fat kings who eyed her like she was a piece of meat. She had to act like she worshipped scummy humans who were so beneath her._

_This gathering was no different. She spent the first half of the party keeping Kol out of trouble and sidestepping royal lords and princes who leered at her. Thankfully Finn and Elijah kept the worst away from her, while Niklaus made sure no king tried to make their baby sister his queen. _

_With one eye on Kol, Lydia took a sip of her wine and let herself relax for a minute. She had been a vampire for a century, and, for the most part, had everything under control. Still, life had not been simple for her and her family since they came back to the old world. Between trying to break Niklaus' curse and running from Mikael, Lydia hadn't let herself relax since she was human._

"_Don't you look like you're having the time of your life?"_

_Lydia looked up from her wine glass to meet the green eyes of a dark haired man, smirking down at her. She snorted at him and rolled her eyes. She had no time for young, arrogant lords who wanted the prettiest girl in the room as their bride._

_She went to stride away when the man frowned at her, grabbing her wrist to keep her from leaving. "It isn't very kind of a lady to leave a gentleman without giving her name."_

_Lydia narrowed her eyes at his hand. "You would do right by removing your hands from me," she said in a low voice. "Unless you would like to have your hand removed from your body."_

_He smirked at her. "Does the lady have older brothers I should be in fear of?"_

"_It is not my brothers you should be in fear of, my lord," Lydia replied shortly. "I find that I defend myself fairly well."_

_The man's handsome face crinkled with amusement, but his hand slipped from her wrist anyway. "I am no lord, my lady," he told her. "But I will take your assumption as a compliment."_

_Lydia frowned. So he wasn't some rich boy hoping to appease his parents by finding a wife. Even so, he was still obnoxious and arrogant. And a waste of Lydia's time._

_The man- boy, really- grabbed her hand and pressed his lips against it. Her lip curled in disgust. "My name is Thomas, my lady," he spoke in a clear voice._

_Lydia pulled her hand away sharply. "If you would be so kind as to leave me alone, Thomas," she said in a sarcastic tone. "That would be greatly appreciated."_

_She heard a chuckle, and her brown eyes darted across the room to see Niklaus smirking in amusement. _Please, save me, _she pleaded with her eyes. Klaus just chuckled again and shook his head, causing her to snarl._

"_Fight your own battles, sister," she heard him say from across the room. Lydia resisted the urge to wipe the smirk from his face._

"_Now where would the fun in that be, my lady?" Thomas said, bringing Lydia's attention back to him._

_She glared him. "Stop calling me 'my lady'," she hissed, finding herself growing agitated with the man easily._

"_But I have nothing else to call you," Thomas replied innocently._

_She narrowed her eyes at him. "Lydia," she bit out. "My name is Lydia."_

"_A beautiful name for a beautiful woman," Thomas said smoothly, kissing her hand again. _

_Lydia looked at him in disgust, yanking her hand away again. "Do not touch me," she told him._

_Thomas just smirked cheekily at her. She rolled her eyes and began to stride away. She was right- Thomas was a waste of time. _

"_Until we meet again, Miss Lydia," he called after her. _

"_I wouldn't hold my breath," she muttered to herself._

_**~SD~**_

"Rebekah, I'm sorry."

Rebekah glared at Lydia, crossing her arms over her chest. "Why must you always keep secrets from everyone else?" she muttered. "I remember when you told me everything."

Lydia scoffed. "I do tell you everything, Rebekah," she said, trying to be patient with her little sister. "I tell you everything you want to know. I tell you about who I'm sleeping with, and I tell you who I want to sleep with. I tell who I've killed, and I tell you who I want to kill._"_

Rebekah frowned but didn't interrupt. "Go on."

"What I _don't _tell you, little sister," Lydia continued. "Is what I know will bore you. Business, really. Boring business that I wish myself didn't have to be involved in."

"You tell you Elijah your 'boring secrets'," Rebekah accused, but seemed to have calmed down.

"Yes, but Elijah's a bore," Lydia said with a smile.

Rebekah smirked back, and through the floor beneath their feet, Lydia heard a disgruntled mumble she knew was from her eldest brother.

"Forgive me, sister?" Lydia asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rebekah sighed dramatically. "Well, I _suppose _so." Then the blonde smiled wickedly. "But, Lydia, I believe you haven't told me who you have wanted to sleep with lately."

Lydia sighed. "I've been dead for five hundred years, Rebekah- they're hasn't been much selection in my coffin."

"Still," Rebekah said with a frown. "When there is somebody-"

"You will be the first to know, Sister," Lydia finished with a nod.

"That's all I ask." Brightening, Rebekah headed towards her bedroom door. "You can take me shopping now, Lydia," she told her sister, her blonde hair swishing with each step she took.

"Thank you for gracing me with that honor, your majesty," Lydia muttered with a roll of her eyes, though she was smiling.

Lydia followed Rebekah down the many flights of stairs. But when they made it to the main foyer, Lydia paused outside one of the many living rooms, though it was the one she and her siblings frequented.

"Wait in the car, Rebekah," she told her sister. "I need to speak to Elijah."

Rebekah frowned. "It's about your boring business, isn't it?"

"Well, do you think I would tell him about who I want to sleep with?" Lydia retorted sarcastically.

Rebekah laughed, the dig at Elijah apparently placating her enough to get her to do as told for once. She left the house as Lydia went to sit down on the couch across of the chair Elijah was occupying.

"How did your meeting with the Salvatores and Elena Gilbert go?" Elijah asked without looking up from the book in his hand.

"Well, I didn't kill anyone, if that's what you're asking," Lydia replied, crossing her legs. "They were less than thrilled that I sided with my family than with them."

"Did you expect any less than that?" Elijah countered.

"Not really," she admitted. "I almost snapped Elena's neck, though."

Elijah raised an eyebrow and she hastily explained herself. "I didn't, though. I have more self-control than that, brother."

"Sometimes I'm not so sure if you do."

Lydia frowned at him, a little offended. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Elijah half smiled at her. "I do not mean to insult you, Lydia," he said. "I just mean that you don't have as much control over your emotions as you think you do."

She sighed and shrugged. "I suppose there is some truth to that statement."

Then she looked up at frowned at him. "Speaking of my lack in self-control," she said, leaning back into the couch. "Has there been any news about the Clan that I haven't heard about?"

Elijah shifted in his chair. "No, there hasn't," he said. "I think we won't have to worry about them anytime soon, Lydia."

She frowned at him. "Well, they didn't just disappear, Elijah," she said.

"Maybe they did," he said with a shrug. "It has been nine hundred years, after all."

Her frown deepened. "Elijah-"

"You shouldn't keep Rebekah waiting," he said, cutting her off. "We both know how impatient she is."

Lydia stared long and hard at her older brother, before getting up slowly and leaving the room.

He was definitely keeping something from her.

_**~SD~**_

_The 12__th__ century_

_After Lydia's first run in with Thomas, she had seen plenty of him since then, much to her dismay. He seemed fixated on her, for some reason. She didn't know why, but Thomas seemed hell bent on getting her to like him. It seemed that way, at least, since he took up most of her time talking to her._

_She learned a great deal about him, even if she didn't want to. He had five other siblings, just like she did. He was very close to his four brothers and one sister- her name was Adrina, and she was very close to Thomas. She didn't seem to care much for Lydia at all. He was the fourth child, but had a very commanding presence in his family._

_It wasn't that Lydia cared for Thomas at all. She didn't. He was a mortal, after all, and she didn't have time for him. But she had grown used to him, to his distracting personality. And she had found her feelings for him slowly changing with each passing day they spent together._

_Instead of being offended by his stories, she found them entertaining. Instead of scoffing at his jokes, she found herself laughing. Instead of hating Thomas, she became utterly charmed by him._

_Her siblings noticed. _

_It was Rebekah who first commented on the amount of time Lydia spent with Thomas. "Have you gone to bed with him yet?" she asked her older sister with a suggestive smirk._

"_No, of course not!" Lydia argued, frowning. "I do not care for Thomas that way. I do not care for him at all, really."_

_Rebekah rolled her eyes at her sister, but played along. Lydia was lying to herself. She cared for Thomas. She was just in denial._

_Kol noticed it, and promptly used it against her. Lydia didn't know how many times he had threatened to kill Thomas or worse, tell Elijah about it, before she snapped his neck. Niklaus, she suspected, knew about it all along. He didn't say a word about her being weak, though. _

_He still felt for Tatia. He missed her. He understood Lydia's attachment towards Thomas. He hadn't become bitter enough to want to take him away from her so that she would be as lonely as he was._

_Finn never commented on her relationship with Thomas. He was far too busy trying to keep his relationship with Sage- a red headed peasant girl who had captured his heart- a secret from the rest of them. So, of course, the entire family knew._

_Elijah was kept in the dark. It was better that way, easier. Her big brother was completely oblivious when it came to men that Lydia fancied. And when he did realize what was going on, it always ended up in a bloody mess. So even though everyone teased her about telling Elijah, threatened her with it, tried to manipulate her with it, no one ever did. Not if they could help it._

_One night, Lydia found herself sneaking out of the manor she and her family had been living in. She was going to meet Thomas. She knew she cared about him, the stupid human who got under her skin. She knew she shouldn't, because humans were "beneath" her now. She had been mocked and ridiculed by just about all her siblings. But she cared about him, she did. _

"_Lydia." Thomas smiled at her as she approached him, the only thing lighting up the night being the moon and the stars. "I thought you wouldn't come."_

"_I wasn't going to," she replied, shifting her weight._

"_What made you change your mind?" Thomas questioned with a frown._

"_I'm not sure," she answered._

_The two lapsed into silence then, before Thomas inhaled sharply and started towards her. "Lydia," he spoke, as if steeling himself._

"_Yes?"_

_Lydia turned to face him just as he crashed his lips against hers. She exhaled sharply, feeling Thomas' fingers cup her face. He kissed her more roughly than she had ever been kissed before, his lips hard and strong against hers. _

_Lydia wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers getting tangled in his hair, as she kissed him back._

_**~SD~**_

Elijah sat in silence after Lydia left. She knew he was lying to her. Of course she did. She wasn't an idiot, plus they had always seen through each other's lies. He didn't like lying to her, he didn't want to. But he knew why he had to.

"She's going to find out the truth sometime, Niklaus."

He spoke to Klaus, who had silently approached his big brother. "Of course she is," he said, his hands behind his back. "But she can't be trusted to handle such fragile information right now. Not about this."

Elijah looked up at his brother. "It's been nine hundred years," he started to say. "She's been long over-"

"You and I both know she had been seeing him up until the day I daggered her," Klaus said, cutting him off. "She just thought no one knew about it."

"She knows information," Elijah continued. "Information that will be very useful-"

"Elijah-" Klaus said, frowning at him. "You know that Lydia can't be trusted when it comes to the Clan. She's too emotionally involved. And, you said it yourself, she doesn't have as much self-control as she thinks she does."

Elijah sighed. He knew that Klaus was right. But he and Lydia were usually in on secrets together. He didn't keep big things like this from her. But he understood exactly why Niklaus wanted to keep Lydia in the dark. It affected him more than anyone.

"It doesn't really matter, does it?" Kol said, lounging on the couch, causing both his brothers to look at him. "Lydia is going to find out that we've been keeping valuable information about the Clan from her eventually. And, when she does, she going to slaughter us all."

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **if you haven't guessed yet, the Clan is my version of the Five. They're different, though, and I prefer them over the Five. You'll see just what I mean as this story continues.

Thank you to: Amaya Bloodriver, pollywallytron, ThePhantomismyLove, ctrlaltdiee, imaddictedtocarrots, , StephanieLockedInTheTardis, NoseInANovel, Lady Syndra, Lovely Rain Dancer, newgirl5, Ann4ever17, and SomebodyWhoCares for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	19. The Clan

**Chapter Eighteen**

_The Clan_

"So," Rebekah said as she and Lydia settled into a booth at the Mystic Grill. "How is Mystic Falls? I see it lack elegance, judging by the only restaurant's interior design." Her nose wrinkled as she studied the bar.

Lydia rolled her eyes. "There are more important that the style of a bar, Rebekah," she reminded her sister.

"Yes, of course," Rebekah agreed, looking around at the people in the bar with them. "Like where to get a bite to eat around here." She smirked as a teenage boy walked past their booth.

She frowned. "I don't want you leaving a trail of bodies that will lead back to us, Rebekah," she said in a stern tone. "You need to learn how to clean up after yourself if you're going to kill."

Rebekah rolled her eyes. "Relax, Lydia," she said easily. "Kol was right- you really are no fun."

Lydia narrowed her eyes at her sister. "We're all alive again," she said in a low voice. "Do I have to remind you what that means?"

Her sister glowered at her. "I'm not a child," she spat. "I know what that means."

"Really? Because I don't think you do."

"I know that that the Clan is back too!" Rebekah snapped.

"Yes, they are," Lydia agreed. "And even though they will find us eventually, we shouldn't make it any easier for them. So that means we have to be careful and make sure no hunters can trace any mysterious deaths and disappearances back to us."

"We shouldn't have to hide, Lydia," her sister whined. "We're better than that. We're stronger and more powerful than the stupid, overrated Clan, and we should just take them out, once and for all."

"May I remind you that the Clan is the first of their kind as well, Rebekah?" she argued. "They are the reason vampire hunters exist today. They started the idea of vampire hunting. And they are the only things on planet earth that can kill us all."

"I know," Rebekah deadpanned. "I still haven't forgotten our last run in with the entire family, Lydia."

"Good," she answered simply. "I haven't either."

"As well as you shouldn't," Rebekah said, straightening her shoulders. "Since it was all your fault."

Lydia pursed her lips but didn't say anything back. It stung, that her entire family thought that. It stung even more, since it was true. She was at fault for last time.

"Elijah believes that they won't come back this time," Lydia continued, ignoring Rebekah's dig. "Or at least he wants me to believe that. I don't know, I think he's lying to me."

"Elijah lying to _you? _Now don't go thinking that, Lydia. What a shame it would be, if he kept you out of the loop like the rest of us," Rebekah said sarcastically.

Lydia raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you done yet?"

Rebekah glared at her. "Maybe he is hiding something from you, Lydia," She hissed in a low voice. "Maybe we all are. Maybe, for once, you're the only one who doesn't know what's going on."

Lydia stiffened and her jaw tensed. "And why would you think that, Rebekah?" She asked in a calm voice.

"Because none of us trust you," she said bluntly. "Not when it comes to the Clan."

Lydia closed her eyes and let out a sigh. Her family would never trust her again, she knew. Because, nine hundred years ago, she placed her trust in someone who wasn't her family.

When she opened her eyes, Rebekah was gone.

_**~SD~**_

_The 12__th__ century_

_The last time Lydia had thought she was in love, she had been human. And then she killed the man she was sure she was in love with._

_Thomas, though. Thomas was different. He was the focus of her thoughts at all times. He made her forget about her responsibility to take care of her family. He made her feel… free. And it was a dangerous feeling, but she still held onto it._

"_Thomas, I really shouldn't stay," she murmured one night in his bedroom. His lips pressed against her neck, and she let out a content sigh. "I should leave."_

"_But I want you to stay," he mumbled against her skin. _

"_My brothers and sister must be wondering where I am at such a late hour," she argued, as her eyelids closed. He kissed up her neck to her jaw, while his hands ran down her stomach to her bare legs. She bit her lip as his hand pressed against her knee, his fingers skimming her thigh._

"_Here's an idea," Thomas murmured, running his fingers through her dark hair. "Lie."_

_Lydia laughed, eyes lighting up as she looked at him. He smiled down at her, and for the first time in maybe forever, Lydia felt completely and utterly blissful._

_The only problem was that Thomas had no idea she was a vampire, one of the first in existence._

_She had thought about her future with Thomas many times, considered the many possibilities. She could turn him- she wanted to, to be with him forever- but her family wouldn't take kindly to him, she knew. Then there was the business with his family. No, there was only one option Lydia could think of. _

_They had to run away together._

_And because Lydia had convinced herself that she did love Thomas, she was willing to do that. She'd leave her family for Thomas, and they'd be together. They'd be happy. She'd get a happy ending after all._

_Lydia sat up and pushed Thomas away from her slightly. "There's something I have to tell you," she said, brushing a curl out of her face._

_Thomas nodded slowly. "I must confess something to you as well, my Lydia," he told her. "And I'm afraid it may be hard for you to accept."_

_Lydia frowned. "What must you tell me?" she asked._

_He sighed and ran a thumb along her jaw. "Two things, actually." _

_Thomas took a deep breath and looked down at her. "I am convinced that I am truly and utterly in love with you, Lydia Mikaelson. And, if you would have me, I wish to be with you as long as our lives would allow it."_

_Lydia let out a shaky breathe. "I-I love you too."_

_Thomas smiled broadly and kissed her then, his fingers getting entangled in her curls. Lydia pulled away again, though. "I must tell you something, Thomas," she said desperately. "And I hope you can accept it."_

_He frowned at her. "What is it, Lydia?"_

"_I- I am not what you think I am," she said slowly. "I am a-"_

_A sudden shout interrupted their intimate moment. Both of them stood up in confusion. "What is going on?" Thomas asked nobody in particular._

"_Thomas! Come quickly, Brother!"_

_Thomas shot out of the room, and Lydia was right behind them. She followed Thomas to his brother Andrew's room. Her beloved froze in the doorway, and she stopped behind him. "What happened? Thomas?" She said anxiously, trying to peek over his shoulder._

"_No," he whispered under his breath._

"_What is it?" she repeated, eyebrows furrowed._

"_Lydia!"_

_She pushed past Thomas into Andrew's room, where she froze as well._

_Andrew had Rebekah up against a wall, a stake pressed against her heart. _

"_She's a vampire, Thomas," Andrew growled. "And not just any vampire- an original one. She is one of the monsters we have been hunting."_

"_Don't touch her!" Lydia hissed, pushing Andrew off of her sister. He went flying into a wall, smashing his head into the stone._

"_Lydia, no. You can't be-" Thomas cut himself off as he looked painfully at Lydia. _

"_She's one of them, brother," Andrew said, breathing heavily. "She's a vampire."_

_Rebekah grabbed her sister's hand. "They're hunters, Lydia," she informed her. "Vampire hunters. They're the Clan."_

_**~SD~**_

Lydia went home after Rebekah stormed off and left her at the Grill. She felt uneasy, after Rebekah let it slip that everyone else knew what Elijah wasn't telling her.

They still didn't trust her, after she fell in love with a member of the Clan.

"Rebekah, are you home?" she called as she walked to her younger sister's closed door.

There was no answered, and Lydia knocked. "Rebekah, don't be immature," she whined. "Talk to me."

Behind her, Lydia heard someone. She turned around and frowned. There was no one there. "Bekah, is that you?" she called.

Rebekah's door opened. "Ugh, what do you want, Lydia?" her sister whined.

Lydia heard breathing to her right and turned to face it. "Someone's here," she said quietly, as a heart beat loudly in the hallway. "And they're human."

Rebekah frowned at her sister. "What are you-"

Out of the shadows, a man lunged at Lydia. She dodged him easily, and pushed him into a wall. He groaned and turned to face her. Without saying a word, he glared at the vampire and raised his stake threateningly.

He made to run at her again, but Rebekah snapped his neck with a flick of her wrist. The man fell to the floor. He was dead.

The younger sister frowned at the dead human. "What the hell was that?" she asked, confused.

Lydia ignored her, and bent down next to the dead man. She picked up his hand, noticing a mark on the back of it.

It was a star, but upon further inspection she noticed that each line was made out of a snake that bit onto the next snake's tail.

Lydia cursed and stood up. She grabbed the dead human's arms and dragged him with her, leaving Rebekah to frown at her sister. "Where are you going?" she called. "Lydia, where are you going?"

When Lydia reached the living room, she noticed that all of her brothers were in the room. She pursed her lips and then threw the dead body into the room. It landed on the table in the middle of the room and caused it to crash to the floor.

All four of her brothers turned to face her in shock. She crossed her arms over her check and glared at all of them. "Look at his right hand," she ordered them. "The Clan's mark. He's a huntsman of the Clan, sent as a warning. They're coming for us."

She turned to face Elijah then, and stared daggers at him. "So, Brother," she said a condescending tone. "What were you saying about me not having to worry about the Clan coming for us?"

_**~SD~  
**_**A/N: **I'm sorry for the shortness of this chapter, but I wanted to get an update out.

Thank you to: musicluver17, Lady Syndra, Tatyana Romanoff, The-Originals-Rock, RockaRosalie, Lidia, 5alvatore, NoseInANovel, Random2Frieds, Peace And Luv, Ann4ever17, Lovely Rain Dancer, IgnitingFireworks, SomebodyWhoCares, and for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	20. The Hypocrite

**Chapter Nineteen**

_The Hypocrite _

Lydia, with her arms crossed over her chest, stared expectantly at her siblings, daring one of them to explain what was going on. Rebekah was behind her, staring at her, dumbfounded. Finn tried his best to blend into the walls. Elijah refused to meet her eyes. Even Kol had nothing to say to her.

Only Niklaus looked her in the eyes and told her exactly what she already knew.

"The Clan is back," he said bluntly, his gaze unwavering. "And, judging by the dead hunter on my coffee table, they're close."

"How long have you known?" Lydia asked him, her face a mask as she waited for him to respond.

Klaus laughed humorlessly and scoffed. "I knew the moment you undaggered Kol, Finn, and Rebekah that we were all doomed, Lydia," he told her. "My sources only proved that to be a hundred percent true."

"And, let me guess," Lydia said dryly, still not showing any emotion on her face. "The first person you told this to was Elijah."

She looked at Elijah, who finally did meet her gaze. He looked sorry, almost. Like he didn't want to find out he was lying to her like she did. Lydia couldn't help but feel betrayed. They never lied to each other, never. They kept secrets from the others, not from each other. Elijah knew this, that was why he couldn't hold her gaze for long.

"Kol overhead us talking about it," Klaus said. She had to give him props, for being the only one in the room able to look her in the eye for longer than five seconds. "He's known for a few days."

"Nik told me last night," Rebekah supplied. "To get me to forgive him."

Lydia looked directly at Finn, who stared at her back. "And Finn?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. It wasn't very big of her, but she hoped Finn was just as out of the loop as she was. Why would they tell him about the Clan before her?

"Finn-" Klaus started to say, but the second eldest brother cut him off.

"I held important information about where the Clan might be," he answered in a flat voice. "So Niklaus had to tell me."

Lydia had forgotten that Finn had done a good bit of research about the Clan before he was daggered. Therefore, he'd be useful to Klaus. Lydia, on the other hand, was a liability.

She ran a hand through her hair. "When were you planning on telling me?" she asked in low tones.

"When the Clan was breaking down our door seemed like a decent time," Klaus answered sarcastically, and Lydia looked up to glare at him.

"You don't trust me," she stated, her voice even and level as her anger became more and more apparent on her face.

"Not with this," Klaus answered bluntly.

She scoffed, smiling humorlessly as she looked back up at her family. She knew exactly why they didn't trust her when it came to the Clan, Niklaus especially. Because of Thomas. But they couldn't even begin to understand everything she had given for them, especially when it came to Thomas. And she was in no mood to explain it to them.

So instead she just shrugged and walked towards the door. They all stared blankly at her as she walked away.

"Where are you going?" Rebekah called, frowning at her.

She didn't even bother to look back at them. "Out," she replied vaguely. "Let you all deal with your trust issues as I deal with my urge to rip someone's spleen out."

Then Lydia walked away, leaving her siblings to dispose of the dead body in the middle of their living room.

_**~SD~**_

_The 12__th__ century_

_Lydia stared blankly at the floor of a castle she and her siblings and taken refuge in. The only source of light was a flickering fire in the other end of the room. Rebekah was sitting beside her, her hand resting over hers in a comforting manner. It was strange, since Lydia was always comforting her. But she was too numb to even note that._

_Finn was in the shadows, like usual. But her brother's face was twisted up in concern. He didn't say a word, though. Kol was leaning against a wall, more in the light. He looked bored, almost. He'd never let his other siblings know that he was, indeed, worried about The Clan._

_Elijah was standing behind Lydia, a stoic expression on his face as his mind tried to come up with a solution to the problem his eldest sister had unknowingly gotten their family in. _

_Klaus paced angrily in front of her, looking as if he wished to do nothing more than tear her throat out._

"_What have you done, Lydia?" he growled, speaking for the first time since they were all forced to run from The Clan._

"_I did not know," she said slowly, as if the words were just automatically leaving her mouth. "I swear."_

"_This is your fault," he snapped. "You brought them into our home. They could have killed us all."_

_Lydia closed her eyes. The man she had planned to run away with the night before was the same man who was now destined to kill her and her siblings. Lydia was numb. She could hardly process her thoughts, let alone her emotions. It was better that way, though._

"_And we know nothing about them," Klaus continued, fuming._

"_We know that when stab them in the heart with a dagger, they act as if it were a paper cut," Kol pointed out. Of course, her family had tried to kill The Clan, but it only proved they couldn't die. They were immortal, or as good as._

"_They only die when they complete their mission, the reason they are the way they are," Lydia spoke up. "To kill us. They die when we die."_

_Elijah frowned at her. "How do you know this?" He asked her softly, silently noting the fragile state of her mental health._

_She blinked slowly. She knew because he told her, even when he shouldn't have. He told her everything, in one last attempt to prove just how much he loved her before he would be forced to destroy her and her family._

_But Lydia didn't say this. She would tell them everything, in due time. When she had the strength._

"_What happens to us, happens to them," Finn noted silently from the shadows. _

_Rebekah finally spoke up. "I heard Andrew say something, before he attacked me," she said. "He said that they had to kill all of us at once, at the same time. Otherwise they can't kill us."_

_Klaus paused in his pacing. He had an idea how to get The Clan off of their backs, if only for a matter of time. _

_But it would mean sacrificing one of them._

Lydia was nursing a glass of scotch, pitying herself and remembering Thomas all by herself when the seat next to her suddenly wasn't occupied anymore.

"One thing I love about this century," Kol said pleasantly, taking Lydia's drink out of her hand. "Is that the liquor is stronger and easier to come by. Well, that, and the girls are a lot more- what's the word?- ah, yes, sluttier."

She frowned at her younger brother as he promptly finished her drink and ordered another one. He made a face and looked at Lydia. "Didn't even feel the need to start off slow, did we, Dia? This little pity party of yours serves nothing but the strong stuff."

She glared at him. "What are you doing here, Kol? Annoying me even further when you know I'm in a rotten mood? I thought even you were smarter than that."

He didn't even blink at the dig. "I was minding my own and exploring this brand new world that is the twenty first century and decided to further explore the new culture we are in by visiting the local pub. I was completely taken by surprise to see my eldest sister- who I admire greatly- drinking all by her lonesome. So I decided, out of the kindness of my heart, to join her," he said innocently.

Lydia wasn't fooled. "Please, Kol," she said, rolling her eyes. "You came here to find a pretty little thing to sink your fangs into. But when you saw me, you decided your time would be better wasted irritating me to the point that I have to use all my self-control to not rip your head off."

He smirked as his eyes wandered to a redhead that strutted past them wearing a dress that revealed more skin than it hid. "Your theory isn't completely true, Dia," he said distractedly. "I planned to do both at once. I can multitask."

Lydia scoffed and took the drink the bartender offered her. After she took a long sip, she went silent. It seemed like minutes before she spoke again.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Her tone was almost accusing, and Kol sighed. "Don't go acting like that, Dia," he said, trying his best to keep his tone light. "You'll bring the party down."

Lydia glared at him. "Just tell me why, Kol," she snapped.

He shrugged. "I thought it'd be more interesting if you found out in a dramatic way," he said simply.

Lydia stared at him through narrowed eyes, and he sighed again. Kol took a long sip of his drink before answering again. "It's nothing personal, Dia, really," he said. "But I do believe Nik had a point in keeping you in the dark. Besides, I just got that damned dagger out of my chest. I didn't want it back in."

"Do none of you trust me anymore?" Lydia questioned, looking up at him.

"That's the problem, isn't it?" Kol said, finishing his drink. "None of us trust each other. And, really, if we're going to survive The Clan, we _need _to trust one another."

A blonde with long legs and little skirt made eyes at Kol as she passed him, and he smirked back at her before standing up. "Excuse me, Sister. I think I have found that pretty little thing we were talking about."

Kol left her then, and Lydia contemplated his earlier words about trust as she finished her drink.

When it came to trust, the Mikaelson family was seriously lacking.

_**~SD~**_

Lydia flipped the lights on in her bedroom, and the first thing she saw was Rebekah, sitting in a chair with her arms crossed over her chest.

Lydia sighed as she walked into her room and shrugged her jacket off. "Not now, Rebekah," she said.

"I just wanted to tell you what a hypocrite you are," Rebekah said seriously.

"Oh really?" Lydia said, raising an eyebrow. "And how is that?"

"You get so angry when we keep something from you," Rebekah told her, straightening her back. "But it's okay when you keep something from us."

Lydia sighed. "You don't understand, Rebekah," she said. "I do it to protect you all."

"And we lied to you to keep you from betraying us!" she exclaimed.

Lydia's eyes widened. "You really think that low of me?" she said quietly. "That I would betray my own family for a boy I knew nine hundred years ago?"

"You love him, Lydia," Rebekah said. "And people do stupid things for love."

"I _loved _him," she corrected. "I fell out of love the second I knew who he really was."

Rebekah scoffed. "Please, Lydia. You don't think none of us knew where you went when you snuck off every dozen decades? You were meeting Thomas, we all know it."

Lydia sighed. She had stopped seeing him a few decades before she was daggered. She never would have gone back to him after that. "We don't know where your loyalty lays, Lydia," Rebekah continued. "And that's why we kept The Clan's return from you."

Rebekah brushed past Lydia then, and left the bedroom. Lydia thought again about what Kol said. They needed to trust each other, if they were going to survive the Clan.

And that meant, for once, being completely honest with each other.

_**~SD~**_

It was late, but Niklaus was still in the living room, a sketchpad on his lap. He looked up when Lydia walked in, looking determined.

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Here to rip out my spleen?" he asked, only partially joking.

"No," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm here to say that Kol was right."

"Never say that in front of him," Klaus said. "It'll make his head even bigger."

"If we don't trust each other, even a little bit, The Clan is going to slaughter us, Niklaus," she told him. "So, for now, I'm willing to let bygones be bygones, until we have the targets off of our backs. Then I will promptly rip out your spleen."

Klaus chuckled lightly at that. "But, in order for us to trust each other," She continued. "We need to be honest, confess to past sins against each other. And I'm going to start."

Klaus' eyebrows raised, curious as to what Lydia could possibly have to say to him. "Out with it, then."

"When the Salvatores and the doppelgangers undaggered me, they did it for a specific reason," she started to say. She sighed slightly, but continued on. "The first week I was undaggered, Niklaus, I was scheming with them to kill you. Permanently."

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **thank you to: leftmysanityathome, Lidia Mikaelson, klandgraf2007, imaddictedtocarrots, Ann4ever17, DarkItalianAngel53, NoseInANovel, Lady Syndra, Lovely Rain Dancer, Tvdlover87654, SomebodyWhoCares, The-Originals-Rock, and IgnitingFireworks for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	21. Trust Issues

**Chapter Twenty**

_Trust Issues_

Lydia wasn't sure how she expected Klaus to react, but thinking back on it, she didn't know how she hadn't expected him to react the way he did.

Klaus broke the leg off of the chair next to him and stabbed Lydia in the chest, a mere inch from her heart.

She gritted her teeth in pain, a humorless smirk playing on her lips as she took in her younger brother's furious expression. She pulled out the makeshift stake with one hand and let it fall to the floor.

"Now, I don't think that was necessary," she replied, lightly, already bracing herself for his next attack.

Klaus looked as if he was about to charge at her again, and Lydia raised her hands. "Oh, don't look at me like that," she said, rolling her eyes.

"How exactly do you expect me to look at you, Lydia?" he asked her sarcastically, his hands curled into fists.

"You have it coming, you know," she said in a low voice. "After everything you've done, to all of us, you have it coming. So don't look at me like I had no right trying to kill you."

Klaus scoffed, a cold, humorless, fuming laugh following it. "You know, Lydia," he said, clenching and unclenching his fists as he slowly walked around the room, trying to control his anger. "Maybe you're right, I do have it coming. I just never expected it coming from you."

She rolled her eyes. "Why? Because I've put up with you for almost five hundred years? Because I've cleaned up your messes, dealt with your tantrums, provided distraction after distraction and sacrifice after sacrifice all to keep you alive? You didn't expect me to be angry and upset and _hurt _because I've always put you and our family before my feelings?"

He didn't bother to answer; Lydia wasn't finished yet. "I stayed, Niklaus. I stayed with you after you basically disowned me because I was in love with Thomas. I stayed with you after you daggered Finn. I stayed after you almost got Rebekah and Kol caught by Mikael in the 1300s. I stayed after every cruel thing you've ever said to me. I stayed for 490 years. And now, after you daggered me for half of my life, after you daggered all our siblings, after you killed our mother and never told me, I'm still here. So, I'm sorry, that I lost my cool, that I got angry and upset and hurt because I couldn't keep justifying your actions anymore, I agreed to help kill you. But, the thing is, Niklaus, I didn't go through with it. I saved your life, even though I should've let you die. I saved you. Because that's what I've been doing for 500 years, Niklaus, and I plan on doing it for 500 more."

Her speech didn't seem to make Klaus less angry; if anything, it made his temper worse. He took a step towards her, and Lydia held her ground. Klaus always thought he could push her around, that she should follow his every order. But she was his older sister and she demanded to be treated with respect.

"I think you're forgetting something, Lydia," he growled, and she lifted her chin slightly in response.

"And what would that be?" she asked, never looking away from him.

"The part where you tried to leave 518 years ago."

Lydia shrugged, unabashed. It was true, she did attempt to leave him. "I needed a break," she told him. "You were already planning on going on a murderous rampage because Katerina Petrova got away, and I needed to get away from you for a while. Your problem, Niklaus, is you don't understand people. You never have. Just because someone leaves, doesn't mean they don't plan to ever come back."

Klaus scoffed. "Please, Lydia. Don't lie to me. You were going to run."

Her eyes snapped up to him, flaming. She took a step towards him. "Run?" she repeated, as if it was a foreign word to her. "I don't _run, _Niklaus. Running implies that you're afraid. I don't run, especially not from the likes of you."

Klaus seemed to lose a bit of control then, lunging for her slightly, only to pull himself back at the last second. Lydia stayed in place, looking almost bored. "Almost 500 years, Niklaus, I spent cleaning up after you. 500 years, I put up with your temper, your obnoxious, immature attitude. You've been a pain in my ass since the day you were born. I wanted some time to myself, when I didn't have to worry about you ripping countries apart and setting dozens upon dozens of hunters after us. Even God got to rest one day."

Her head slammed against the wall, and she was a little surprised he hadn't broken her neck by sheer impact. Lydia growled, pushing Klaus off of her. "You're a two year old," she deadpanned, debating whether or not to put him through a wall.

Klaus retaliated by picking up a nearby chair and smashing it into his sister. Lydia took most of the impact in her side, and she heard her ribs crack as she fell into a wall. The chair broke into pieces, and some of the shrapnel had lodged itself into her side.

"You told me this because you wanted me to trust you, Lydia," Klaus said, as Lydia picked pieces of wood from out of her skin "But I don't trust you. Not now, not ever. I didn't trust with the Clan, and now I just don't trust you. So, once all this Clan business is taken care of, I expect you'll be on your way."

She was fuming. He wanted her to leave? Mystic Falls had once been her home just as much as his. Her family was here, her memories were here. And he expected her to leave? His temper tantrum made her want to agree to kill him all over again.

Lydia picked up a vase and threw it as hard as she could at his retreating figure. It smashed into his back, and he paused. "Did you ever think of the details, Niklaus? It wasn't my plan, I just agreed to go along with it. These people have wanted you dead long before I was undaggered. They were going to kill you either way, I just wanted to be the one to do it. If someone was going to kill you, Niklaus, it wasn't going to be some stranger who didn't understand, who didn't know anything. It was going to be me," she exclaimed.

He didn't even bother to look at her. "How noble of you, Lydia," he muttered sarcastically, sounding as if he was still debating over daggering her again.

She wanted to throw a thousand more vases at him, but then it might've gotten even uglier. Instead, Lydia let Niklaus walk away. Then she paced the living room and practiced her deep breathing.

If one thing was for sure, it was that he wasn't chasing her out of Mystic Falls. No matter how many times he could dagger her, Lydia would never let her baby brother bully her.

_**~SD~**_

Lydia couldn't sleep when she was drunk. She never could. It was one of her quirks, like how Rebekah hummed an old lullaby from when they were children after she had had sex or how Elijah had a tendency to touch things in a room he had just entered, like the walls or books or various knickknacks scattered about. It was a quirk.

Instead of sleeping, Lydia paced her bedroom, a bottle in her hand. She thought about how the list of people she was angry at was just as long as the list of people angry at her. She thought about the Clan, and how they really were coming to kill them. She knew they would be, she had thought about it when she undaggered the rest of her siblings. She thought they could handle it. Now, she seriously doubted it.

Somewhere in the middle of the night, her buzz had worn off and a dull pounding had entered her head. Still, she paced and paced and paced until she was surprised she hadn't worn through the floorboards. She needed a plan, _they _needed a plan, before the Clan got to Mystic Falls.

Her head was full of information about the Clan- things Thomas had told her before she had left and things she had gathered on her own. Most of them were just theories, ideas. There wasn't much known about them, since they had been decommissioned in the 12th century, when Finn had been daggered.

"_Each of the hunters has a connection with one of the original vampires," Thomas explained, as Lydia watched him warily from a corner in the room. "Only that original can be killed by that hunter, and when that original dies, the hunter dies. Like, your sister Rebekah is being hunted by Andrew. Elijah is hunted by my brother Jonathan . What happens to you, happens to us."_

"_Who- who hunts me?" Lydia asked, frowning up at him._

"_My little sister, Adrina," he admitted, looking sick at the idea. "I wish I could say I will protect you, Lydia, but I can't. Not from this."_

_She looked away from him, and he cleared his throat. "We must all kill our marks at the same time, it's the only way it will work. The witch who did this to us, she said certain rules must be made to keep nature in balance."_

_She nodded, but was only half listening. "Why?" she asked, and Thomas looked at herm surprised. "Why are you telling me all this?"_

_He took a minute to consider his answer. "Because," he said, sounding terribly sad. "I do love you, Lydia. I should hate you, but I don't. And, I'd like to think if the circumstances were different, we would've been very happy together."_

_She nodded, throat feeling very tight. "I think- I think we would have been."_

A knock on the door broke Lydia away from her thoughts. It also made her hangover that much worse. She raised an eyebrow as the door opened slowly and revealed Elijah.

She scoffed and turned away from the door as he entered tentatively. "Lydia, can I please just explain-"

She cut him off. "I'm in the mood, Elijah, alright?" she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I didn't lie to you because I don't trust you," he told her, taking a step towards the door.

But his words lit something in Lydia. She blurred in front of him, face contorted in anger. "But that's the thing, Elijah. We _don't lie to each other! _That's why we work. We're honest- brutally, sometimes- and we don't keep secrets. I've never lied to you, not once."

Lydia sighed and stepped back, trying to control her temper. Elijah watched her warily. "I was trying to protect you, Lydia," he told her. "I thought that the longer you were kept out of it, the better. You've never reacted well to Clan situations, and I wanted to protect you from that."

She exhaled slowly, still not looking at him. But she was listening. "I've watched Thomas break your heart once a century up until you were daggered, most of the time without even being there. I didn't want you to be involved in this because I didn't want you to get your heart broken again."

She looked at him in surprise. Had Elijah really noticed? She knew Rebekah had picked up on her sneaking off for a few days and then coming back completely miserable, but had Elijah also? They all thought he was completely oblivious when it came to her love life, but he wasn't. He was more perceptive than she wished he was.

Lydia was exhausted with fighting with her brothers, with her family in general. Maybe she hadn't completely forgiven Elijah, but she knew how much easier it was to go about life when he was on her side.

"I'm sorry, Lydia. I am," he told her, and she nodded, offering half a smile.

"I forgive you," she told him.

She squeezed his hand, and Elijah looked a lot less stressed knowing his sister wasn't upset with him anymore. But that didn't mean there wasn't still sore feelings in their family.

"So, you told Niklaus about the plot to kill him?" Elijah asked, and Lydia frowned up at him.

"How could you possibly know that?"

"I heard you two going at it last night," he answered.

Lydia ran a hand through her hair. "I wanted him to hear it from me. I thought it'd go over better if I admitted it to him myself."

"I take it he didn't handle it well?"

She sighed. "He told me he wanted me gone as soon as the Clan situation was taken care of."

Elijah raised his eyebrows. "That's not happening," he said bluntly.

Lydia grinned up at him. "Of course it isn't," she assured him. "I'm just waiting for him to cool off."

"This entire Clan situation has him on edge," Elijah agreed. "Though I'm sure you understand why."

Lydia nodded slowly. She knew exactly why Niklaus trusted her least when it came to the Clan.

"_Who do you hunt?" Lydia asked him, frowning. _

_Thomas smirked slightly; a twisted, humorless smirk. He hunted the worst of them, the most dangerous._

"_Why, I got stuck with the hybrid. Your half-brother, Niklaus."_

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **thank you to: Courtney-Tamara, DanaBlood, imaddictedtocarrots, A Lost Vamp, Lady Syndra, NoseInANovel, ELECTRA13, Tvdlover87654, , Lovely Rain Dancer, Guest, and IgnitingFireworks for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	22. Fighting

**Chapter Twenty One**

_Fighting _

Despite the things that had happened, the mistakes that were made, the sides that were chosen, the Mikaelson family dynamic hadn't changed all that much. It had been the same since they were human, and it changed little since then. When it came to the fights and arguments that broke out very often, the sides almost always remained the same.

Elijah and Lydia had always been on the same side. Always. Rarely did they face off against each other. They were the glue desperately holding the family together. They were the voices of logic and reason.

Rebekah had always been the one to support Niklaus, to back him up despite of reason or logic or anything else. She had always been by his side, never daring to leave it no matter what. She had come to idolize her big brother, despite the rather harsh fights they had gotten in over the years.

Kol was a catalyst. He always had been, and would mostly like remain one for the rest of his years. He tried to make things worse, choosing no sides. His eyes would always light up when he heard insults being screamed and vases being thrown. He lived for fights and arguments, and how entertaining they always turned out to be.

Finn never said a word. He never started a fight, never stopped one, and never got involved. He lurked in the shadows, never seeming to enjoy the arguments but never seeming to hate them either. He seemed indifferent to it all, careless.

The Mikaelson family arguments were the same as most family arguments. They started abruptly most of the time, with little to no warning. Usually they dredged up past mistakes and arguments as ammunition. Old secrets were revealed and thrown in each other's faces. The fights could last hours, days, weeks, months, years. A few even lasted centuries. Breaks and pauses were taken, and for a while everything was calm and quiet. Then someone said something and it was like a bomb had gone off and suddenly everybody had something to complain about.

Of course, what was so different about Mikaelson family arguments was how violent they have gotten. Bones have been broken, necks snapped, people stabbed. It was like World War Three had taken place in their living room. Usually, the fighting stopped when a sibling was pushed to their breaking point and killed another sibling by snapping their neck or staking them in the heart. Then people would leave to cool down. Eventually everything would settle again, until it wasn't anymore.

The only known way to completely end an argument was to dagger the opponent. That was Niklaus' choice method of shutting a brother or sister up. But it wasn't possible to fight with just one sibling. You fought with one, you fought with them all. That was usually why fights lasted so long. That, and because of the terrible temper that ran in the Mikaelson blood.

Lydia knew what she walking into, when she and Elijah joined the others in the family room. She knew that Niklaus was still furious with her, as was Rebekah. She knew Finn wouldn't say a word, and Kol would prove to be more of a nuisance than anything. She knew that Elijah would be the only one she could count on to help her if she needed it.

Sure enough, she felt eyes on her as soon as she walked in. She chose to ignore her siblings, instead opting to sit on a couch. She picked up a discarded newspaper and started to flip through it; not because she cared, but because she needed something to do.

She waited for one of them to say something, to start something. Lydia never started the fights, but she was quick to fight back. But no one said anything. Not even Kol, who seemed to be nursing a terrible hangover.

Flipping the page, Lydia frowned when she came across a story. _The body of a young waitress was discovered early yesterday morning by hunters. The body was covered in claw marks and bruises, and was completely drained of blood. Police are adamant that the cause of death was by an animal, and that there was no foul play involved-_

Letting out a sigh, Lydia tossed the paper to the side. "Damn you, Kol."

Her brother raised his head. "Can I help you, Dia?"

In a blur, Lydia was at his side, slamming the paper down in front of him. "You can by learning to clean up after yourself," she hissed, eyes narrowing angrily.

Kol quickly scanned the article, before meeting his sister's gaze with a smirk. "Are you suggesting that it was me who killed this girl? Why, Lydia, I am deeply offended that you would think me capable of such a thing."

Lydia glared at him. "I spent almost five hundred years cleaning up after you. I know your style. How foolish of me to believe that you've actually matured while I've been dead."

Kol smirked up at her. "Yes, it was rather foolish of you to think that."

Her hand flexed as she tried to control her urge to snap her brother's neck, when another voice spoke up. "Relax, Lydia. Just because Kol's enjoying himself doesn't mean you have to be the fun police and ruin it."

Lydia barely spared Rebekah a glance. Her little sister preferred to make underhanded jabs, about a person's personality or clothing style. She was as shallow and cutthroat as the average high school girl.

"Well, while Kol's out having fun and enjoying things, his actions are going to lead the Clan straight to our door," she snapped.

"Well, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?" Klaus replied smoothly.

Lydia closed her eyes, feeling her control slipping. She was weighing the pros and cons of lashing out at her younger siblings when she felt a hand on her arm.

"Don't make this worse," Elijah warned her quietly, but despite that, he was still heard by everyone else in the room.

"Oh, I'm afraid it's already too late for that, Elijah," Rebekah said, her gaze glued to Lydia. "She just expects us to trust her, even after everything she's done."

Lydia rolled her eyes at that. "Oh, get over yourself, Bekah. You're upset with me and call me untrustworthy, yet you're awfully close with the sibling that stuck a dagger in your heart."

"You're one to talk," she snapped, her face going red with anger.

She arched an eyebrow. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Kol leaned forward, his face lighting up as he watched his sisters argue. Elijah had a grip firmly on Lydia's arm, as if he was preparing himself to hold her back. Klaus, on the other hand, made no move to restrain Rebekah. He was smirking, as if he knew something the others didn't. Finn was far away from the conflict, hiding in the shadows, completely forgotten.

Rebekah and Lydia were practically in each other's faces. It was dangerous, when these two fought. They had a sisterly bond, a bond forged on secrets and jealousy. A bond that was as fragile as it was strong. When they fought, the secrets came pouring out.

Lydia had an affair with the king of England during the 14th century. Rebekah was responsible for that slaughter of the peasant village in France that almost led to Kol getting beheaded. Their home was burned down in 1392 because Lydia let it slip that Klaus was sleeping with the Prince's wife. Needless to say, Kol loved it when the sisters fought.

"What do you think it means?" Rebekah retorted, and Lydia's eyes widened in understanding.

Rebekah knew what she had done- what she had _almost _done.

"Nik may have daggered us, but at least he didn't try to kill us permanently- not like what you tried to do to him."

Kol's eyes widened, a twisted grin taking form on his lips. "Oh, Dia, you _didn't."_

Out of the corner of her eye, Lydia say Finn shift subtly in surprise. Elijah stiffened next to her, and behind Rebekah, Niklaus looked so smug. It made her want to wipe his god forsaken smirk right off of his face.

"You told her?" she demanded, already feeling the silent judgment of her siblings, like it was a tangible substance in the air.

"I don't keep things from Bekah, Lydia," Klaus said. "Much like how you don't keep things from Elijah, based on how he obviously already knew your little secret before Rebekah blurted it out."

Gritting her teeth, Lydia felt Elijah's grip on her arm tighten. They wanted secrets? Lydia would give them secrets. She knew something none of them knew, not even Elijah. They all thought she was terrible? They had to know, she was nothing compared to Niklaus.

"You don't keep things from Rebekah?" Lydia repeated. "Then she knows already?"

Klaus scoffed, deciding to humor his big sister. "Knows what, Dia?"

"That you murdered mother?"

It was like a bomb had been dropped. Everybody went silent. Elijah's hand went limp on her arm. Klaus stared at her like she was a ghost, a creature of his nightmares. "W-what are you talking about?" he said, attempting to play off the accusation but failing.

"You know _exactly _what I'm talking about, Niklaus. I just don't know how I didn't figure it out sooner," Lydia said, though her voice was hollow. She was starting to regret saying what she had already spoken. Rebekah was staring blankly at her, her face starting to crumple slowly. She had been so close to Esther, and to find out the true means behind her death, like the way she did-

It was extremely cruel.

"You're lying," Rebekah accused sharply, bringing the attention back to her. "You're lying, Lydia!"

She just shook her head slowly. "I'm not."

Even Kol didn't have a sarcastic, unneeded comment to say. For the first time since Lydia could remember, the room in which all her siblings stood in was completely silent. Nobody had anything to say, not while they all absorbed what she had dropped on them.

Lydia slowly looked up, meeting the eyes of her baby brother almost unwillingly. She had never seen Klaus that way before, so unprepared, so out of control. He hadn't expected her to know one of his deepest secrets, hadn't expect anyone to. And it frightened him, how powerless he felt, not being able to control the situation.

And when Klaus was scared, he got violent.

Lydia barely had time to gasp out when Klaus pinned her to the wall, his forearm pressed against her throat, cutting off her air supply. "How?" he roared at her. "How did you know?"

But Lydia knew how to get out of Klaus' grip- it was something she was quite good at. She slipped quietly out his fingers, backing away from him slowly as he turned on her again. "Mikael told me," she admitted. "He told me it's why he wanted to kill you."

"Mikael told you?" Rebekah exclaimed. "What makes him a reliable source? He's the one we all went on centuries believing actually killed her."

"You didn't see his face, Rebekah. He wasn't lying. I know he wasn't. Besides, I watched him stake our father hours later. He daggered all of us, one by one. Don't tell me he isn't capable of killing our mother too."

She felt numb as she spoke. She didn't feel good, rehashing their mother's death a thousand years later. It hurt, talking about it. And it hurt, that Niklaus was her murderer. It hurt even more, having to deal with the look on Rebekah's face. Rebekah, the most fragile of them all, the most easily hurt. The baby of the family, who had cries for hundreds of years later, all because of their dead mother.

Rebekah, who couldn't even look at Niklaus. Rebekah, who turned her anger and her pain onto Lydia. Rebekah, the youngest of them all, who reached for Lydia and snapped her only sister's neck with a twist of her hand.

Rebekah, who let Lydia's body fall to the floor before blurring away without another word.

_**~SD~**_

When Lydia regained consciousness again, she was on the couch. She groaned as she sat up, rubbing her neck. She wasn't sure how much time had passed. An hour, maybe? No more than two. The living room was still as silent as it had been when her neck had been broken. But, this time, it was seemingly void of any life forms.

Closing her eyes again, Lydia flopped back onto the couch. Why had she told her siblings about their mother's death the way she did? She hadn't even decided whether to tell them or not. There had been no need. A thousand years had passed, and they had all moved on, had all gotten their closure. Then she decided to be an ass and ruin it all, because she couldn't take Niklaus' smug face.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Lydia didn't even flinch, didn't open her eyes. "To be honest, I hadn't thought much of it. I had more important things on my mind."

"More important than our mother?"

"Yes." Lydia sat up and stared back at Elijah. "Yes, more important than our dead mother."

He just shook his head at her, not saying anything. Sighing, Lydia stood up. "You're upset with me too?"

"You should have told me."

"I forgot!" she exclaimed. "I forgot to tell you, with everything going on-"

"You forgot about our mother?" Elijah questioned, staring imploringly at his favorited sibling. "Are you really that heartless, Lydia?"

She flinched. "I'm _sorry, _Elijah-"

"You lectured me about keeping secrets, yelled at me for it. Yet you do the same thing to me without a second thought. Out of everything I knew you to be, a hypocrite was not one of them," Elijah said, his jaw tightening the longer he looked at her.

Lydia bit her lip, but didn't speak. She didn't know what to say. There was really nothing she could, not without making the situation that much worse.

"You're quite the piece of work, Lydia," Elijah murmured, then he turned around and left her alone in the living room.

Lydia took a deep breath and flopped back onto the couch.

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **jeez, these Mikaelsons and their issues.

Thank you for reviewing and review some more!

~Abby :)


	23. Pity Party

**Chapter Twenty Two**

_Pity Party_

Darts was an easy game to master.

Even as intoxicated as she was and as she planned to be, Lydia hit the center every time. A quick flick of her wrist and the dart was across the room, embedded in the target. She imagined the target the faces of many; Niklaus, Thomas, Mikael, Elijah, Niklaus again. Yet the only face she could settle on was her own.

She had single handedly managed to drive away the one ally she could always count on, the one friend she knew she would always have. And she loathed herself for it, she really did. Lydia knew her good qualities- Loyal, resourceful, cunning, dedicated. But she never thought too much about what made her terrible. She was hypocritical, self-righteous, stubborn. She supposed she was selfish and self-absorbed as well.

Of course, instead of facing her problems, fighting her demons, Lydia stood in the grungy bar that she was sure she was starting to frequent too often and tossed back shots and she threw darts at an innocent dart board. Because along with being hypocritical and self-righteous and stubborn, Lydia was also a coward. But at least she could admit it. That had to count for something.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite original."

Lydia almost rolled her eyes. Of course, of all people, Damon Salvatore had to stumble upon her in the state she was in. She thought about walking away; throwing her whiskey back and enjoying the fire in her throat as she prowled back home. But that would mean facing her family and she was lonely. Misery did love company, after all.

"You're just in time, Salvatore," she said, sliding the bottle over to him as she tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Have a seat."

Damon frowned slightly but did as told. He watched Lydia gather up her darts again and then stalk back to their table. "You seem in a good mood," he said dryly, pouring himself a glass of the liquor Lydia had compelled.

"You would know, wouldn't you, Salvatore?" Lydia said, eyes narrowing as she focused on the target that seemed to become more blurry with every drink she had. "You are the most cheerful man in town, after all."

Damon smirked slightly as he took a sip of his drink. "Touché."

Despite the blurriness, Lydia didn't miss once. The darts flew across the room and landed neatly in the board. Lydia let out a sigh. She was long bored of the game, but kept on playing, more out of the process than anything. Throw the darts, do a shot, gather the darts, repeat. The ritual of it all calmed her.

"I think life was easier when most of my family resided in coffins," Lydia blurted out, falling into a chair as she reached for her glass.

"I don't know about that," Damon said, looking at her over the top of his glass. "You were fairly miserable then too."

She ignored him. "I mean, you at least have to enjoy the irony of it all. I was convinced that I needed my siblings back to be happy, to be content. But not even forty eight hours after I undaggered them, did life get dramatic again. Everything's even messier than it was in the first place."

Damon didn't know why he sat there and listened to her; this girl who was ten times his age and betrayed them all. But where was he to go? He didn't have any friends, and why go home, back to Elena who would only talk about Stefan. Back to his brother, who was either brooding or tearing throats out. As twisted as it seemed, drinking with Lydia seemed like the best placed to be for him at that moment.

"All I ever wanted was my family back. And when I finally do get them back, of course we can't be happy. Happiness doesn't exist for Mikaelsons." Lydia brushed her curls back and reached for the bottle. Alcohol was her only friend, the only thing she could count on.

Damon finally rolled his eyes. There was only so much wallowing he could take before he snapped. "Let's take the self-pity down a notch, Dia," he told her.

Lydia gave him a scathing look completely on instinct. "If all you're going to do is judge me, you can leave, you know. I drink better by myself anyways."

She stood up and continued her ritual. One by one, the darts hit the dart board. Lydia barely reacted. It was almost a chore at that point. Damon's blue eyes followed her as she trudged across the room to retrieve her darts.

They could only carry on conversation without mentioning the elephant in the room for so long. It was a miracle they had lasted this long, given Lydia's drunkenness and Damon's blunt personality. But when Lydia took her seat again, Damon couldn't contain himself any longer.

"You know, I'd expect an apology if I knew there was even a chance of me getting one," he mentioned almost casually.

Lydia frowned, running her finger over the tip of the dart. "You'd be foolish to think I'd ever apologize to you and your gang of overzealous teenagers," she replied, her eyes going off into the distance as she spoke.

"I know, that's why I'm not expecting one. I make a habit of trying to be as little of a fool as possible," Damon answered, staring into his half-empty glass.

"I'm not sorry," Lydia blurted out. "I'm really not. Out of everything I've done in my life- all the deaths and the lies and the secrets- breaking a promise made out of pure rage barely even registers with me. I don't regret it."

Damon gritted his teeth but said nothing. Of course he was angry she turned her back on them, but not nearly as angry as Stefan and Elena. Mostly because he understood Lydia. Not just her decisions, but in general. And it was a rare thing, to really understand somebody. He didn't even have that with Elena, and definitely not with his brother. He understood Lydia Mikaelson, and maybe that's why he was able to sit at the same table as her and not want to rip her heart out.

"The only thing I regret is ever making that deal in the first place," Lydia continued, almost without thought. "I suppose that's the source of most of my problems at this moment. Niklaus is never kind on people who try to hurt him. Not even his family- _especially _not his family."

Damon raised his eyebrows. So Klaus finally knew. He was a little surprised that Lydia was still amongst the living. Hell, he was surprised why he was still amongst the living. He supposed that Klaus must have been so distracted by whatever family drama Lydia wasn't telling him about that he forgot about the merry band of overzealous teenagers plotting his demise. At least, for now he had.

Silence ensued, and the darts rolled out of Lydia's hand, forgotten. Lydia emptied the remnants of the bottle into her glass and set the useless bottle aside. She closed her eyes as she took a long drink, trying to find peace in the feeling of losing yourself to the burn of alcohol.

When Damon spoke again, Lydia only opened one eye to look at him. "You know, you and your psycho siblings could always leave, you know," he suggested without even a hint of hope in his voice. He knew it was a lost cause, but he thought he might as well try. It might ease the sense of guilt of actually enjoying Lydia's company. "That might solve both our problems."

The laugh that fell from Lydia's lips was hollow and humorless. "Please, I have bigger things to worry about than a pack of baby vampires who don't know their place." And that's all that was to be said about it. Leaving Mystic Falls wasn't happening- it wasn't an option. This was their home, where they had all lived, grown up, and died. This was where there humanity was buried beneath the earth. This was where they had to rebuild their family again. Mystic Falls was theirs, and they weren't giving it up any time soon.

"Well, I don't know if I qualify as a baby vampire," Damon said lightly, to lighten the mood more than anything. But there was a hint of boyish pride hidden beneath his words. He was almost two hundred years old, after all.

Lydia smiled, as small as it was raw. It even reached her eyes. "To me, you are," she said softly.

They lapsed into silence again. But it wasn't awkward or angry. It was thoughtful and comfortable. Lydia looked into the dregs of her drink as if the solutions to her problems were floating at the bottom of her glass. If they were, she would have found them long ago.

When Damon spoke again, his voice was softer than she had ever heard it. "I get it, you know," he told her, almost unconsciously. "I get why you couldn't go through with killing Klaus. And, really, I think I would've been surprised if you had gone through with it."

Damon emptied his glass and Lydia stared attentively at him as she waited for him to continue. Her brow was furrowed slightly, her eyes unfocused slightly, but big and brown as ever. There was color in her cheeks, and her curls seemed almost unruly, both due to her intoxication. All in all, Damon thought she'd never been sexier.

"I had a hundred different opportunities to kill Stefan and a hundred times I really wanted to, but there wasn't a moment when I could go through with it," Damon said, setting his empty glass down. "So, I get why you couldn't, because I never could."

"I guess we're both somewhat experts when it comes to rocky familial relationships," Lydia agreed.

Damon smirked at her. "You want to compare dysfunctional families, Dia? I bet I'd win," he teased her.

Lydia scoffed. "Please, the estrangement in my family makes you and your brother seem thicker than thieves." She doubted the Salvatores were as flawed and even broken as her family. But, in their defense, the Mikaelsons had been around a great deal longer.

Lydia's gaze trailed off as an appealing young boy, most likely in his late teens, walked past them. She felt the never ending hunger burn in her chest then. She thought about following that boy to the bathroom and sinking her fangs into his neck. He'd fight back in the beginning, but eventually pass out from blood loss, and there would be nothing to keep her from the sweet, thick blood-

"Oh, get a room."

Lydia looked away and arched an eyebrow at Damon. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," he told her. "You're practically eye humping that kid. But I doubt it has less to do with the pimples and more to do with the warm blood he carries around with him."

She shrugged, unabashed. "I get thirsty when I'm drunk, sue me." She smirked back at Damon. "We could have some fun, you and I. A good night of slaying innocents might be what I need."

Had they met months ago, Damon would've agreed automatically. But that was before Elena. Hell, he probably would've tried to sleep with Lydia by now, had he never met Elena. At that moment, the familiar face of the doppelganger came into his mind. "I think I'll pass, Dia."

She frowned. "Now, I never would've pegged you to be on the all blood bag diet, Damon," she told him.

He shrugged. "Less fuss," he said. "There is the convenience factor, too."

Lydia smirked slightly. "I think it has less to do with the convenience factor and more to do with impressing a certain doppelganger."

Damon instantly frowned, no longer amused with drunk Lydia.

"Stop talking, Lydia," Damon told her casually, but she blatantly ignored him.

"Now, answer me this, Damon. If you have to change who you are to be with the person you love, is it really love?" she asked, raising an eyebrow innocently.

"Me and Elena aren't any of your business, Lydia," he warned her, the threat barely concealed.

She raised her hands in a signal of peace. "I'm just observing," she told him.

"Yeah, well, keep your observations to yourself."

Sensing that their conversation was over, Lydia slowly stood up. "I suppose I should go home and put my family back together," she mused.

Damon acknowledged this with a nod. "Later, Dia," he told her, his attention no longer on the original.

Grabbing her jacket, Lydia started to walk away before stopping herself. Not even looking at Damon, she spoke to him, knowing he was listening. "Speaking from personal history, believe me when I say that I know what it's like, to think you love someone so much they're more important than family to you. So trust me, Damon, when I say that choosing love over family will only leave you regretful and alone, completely and utterly alone. But what would I know? I'm just the sad drunk."

Without another word, Lydia shrugged her jacket on and saw herself out.

_**~SD~**_

Lydia walked aimlessly down a deserted alley, the wind caressing her face as she slowly made her way home. She suddenly stopped when she saw a figure at the end of the alley. Two figures, actually.

"Rebekah," she breathed, her eyes glued on her baby sister.

Even with the softness at which Lydia spoke, and the distance and which they stood at, Rebekah snapped up when she heard her name. Her face was messed with blood, and the body of her victim fell to the floor, forgotten.

In the blink of an eye, Rebekah pinned Lydia to the floor, the poor human's blood painted on her face. Her fingers dug into Lydia, and her head had bashed into the stone wall behind her, but Lydia didn't react. Sadness had set into Lydia then. A mournful sorrowfulness had taken her over. Seeing her sister taking her pain out on humans made her even sadder. While she had retreated to her vice, so had Rebekah. So much for being a role model.

"Rebekah," Lydia whispered again, conveying so much more empathy in that one word than she could ever speak.

She watched Rebekah crumble in on herself. Her grip loosened, her bloodied face falling slowly as the weight of that one word hit her. The tears started falling soon, leaving trails down her bloodied cheeks.

She collapsed on her big sister, and Lydia clutched her, not even batting an eyelash when she stained her shirt. Rebekah silent sobs shook her body. Lydia just held her, not saying a word, not moving an inch. She held her like she had numerous times as the years passed. She just let her little sister cry and mourn, and she supposed she mourned as well, vicariously.

But they were interrupted when a gunshot echoed down the silent alleyway, sounding like thunder in Lydia's ears.

At first she didn't feel the pain. But slowly, the sharpness gained intensity. Lydia blinked slowly, pulling away from Rebekah. She looked down at her chest, where a bullet had missed her heart by an inch.

"Lydia."

The earth stopped spinning. Everything froze. Every molecule, every cell. Lydia was shocked into stillness. Her stomach dropped as a figure stepped out of the shadows. And she prayed, in that moment, that she would wake up and find that the past twenty four hours had all been a horrible dream.

"It's been too long, Sweetheart."

And when Thomas looked at her, his trademark smirk gracing his lips, Lydia swore she was going to vomit- and the alcohol she had consumed had nothing to do with it.

_**~SD~**_

**A/N: **I don't know what else to say besides I'm sorry for the lack of update. I'm now on summer break, so I'll be updating a hell of a lot more, promise :)

Thanks for reviewing and review!

~Abby :)


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